For two days they toiled in the flood area in West Germany.
Rubble cleared away and tackled wherever possible.
Now the helpers are back in Gernlinden - exhausted and deeply impressed by the people who are trying to make the best of the disaster.
Gernlinden - “The mud, the smell, all the people around it, that's just amazing,” says Benedikt Schellmann.
If he thinks about it, still poke his hair up.
“It smells like opening a garbage truck.
And for oil.
We hadn't imagined it would be that bad. "
+
This is what the streets looked like before the cleanup party started ...
© Private
The 27-year-old is one of the men from the district who went west on Friday to help in the disaster area.
With his sweeper - Schellmann belongs to a company in Luttenwang - he cleaned the streets.
“People looked at the clean street as if they had never seen one before,” he reports.
A man told him that it was the first time in ten days that he saw a cleared road again.
+
... and so after.
The rubble is gone, all that's left is electrical appliances.
© Private
Wladyslaw Nader, who owns a gardening and landscaping company in Gernlinden, was also on duty.
With the help of a sorting grab, he cleared away rubble and debris in front of the houses.
The 31-year-old and three other helpers from Gernlinden stayed with the mayor of the neighboring town.
They hardly slept, however.
“Just a couple of hours,” says Nader.
But with all the toil and misery they have seen, there are positive things to say.
“The gratitude of the people was so nice,” says Schellmann.
They had been offered something everywhere.
So he drove through the village on Saturday morning.
“And by the time I was through, I had six coffees,” he says with a laugh.
+
The helpers had expected devastation and chaos, but what they actually experienced exceeded their expectations.
© Private
“People were just happy that machines were making a difference,” says Nader.
And you could feel that everywhere.
“In between we also had fun,” says the 31-year-old.
For example, he made a bet with a resident that he could use his sorting grab to get the aquarium that was lying in the rubble.
The other one lost and had to buy a box of Kölsch.
Logical that the beer was drunk together.
As impressive as Nader and Schellmann found the people there, they are frustrated by the authorities. "Actually only private companies were in use there," says Nader. Instead of supporting the helpers, the authorities would have hindered their work. "I even got a ticket," he says angrily. All in all, everything was very chaotic from the official side. "Everything that came from private was well organized."
Schellmann wants to return to the disaster area in two weeks. But this time with two sweepers. Nader doesn't come with me. “I also have to take care of my company again.” The fundraising campaign that he helped set up and the work in the crisis area have been falling behind. "We didn't think it would take on such proportions and would like to thank all donors."
