Entire villages have been destroyed by the force of the floods.
Ten Geretsrieder worked in the flood area.
They would like to forget the pictures.
Claudia Hermann would like to forget the pictures.
Derailed trains standing in the middle of a field as if they had fallen from the sky.
Caravans that have been swept away by the tide, the wrecks are piling up.
Railroad tracks twisted up like spirals by the devastating violence of nature.
And besides that, desperate people who lost their belongings in the floods.
Hermann, a member of the Geretsrieder BRK local association, worked for four days in the flood area around Ahrweiler in the north of Rhineland-Palatinate.
“It's like on TV there,” she says.
“Only worse.” 150 volunteers from various rescue organizations were part of the convoy Hermann was traveling with.
Ten of them are members of the BRK Geretsried.
Thomas Pieper was also on the bus that ended in the disaster area.
His girlfriend had a stomachache at the thought of the mission.
In the case of volunteers, this only started later
It was a matter of course for the 39-year-old to help. However, his family had concerns. “I couldn't say for sure where I was going. It could have been that I had no cell phone network for three days and no one heard from me at home, ”says the family man. And that at a time when reports were making the rounds that firefighters were moving into the crisis area and never returned home. "My son didn't think my work was great and my girlfriend had a bit of a stomachache". In the end, however, she agreed. "Otherwise I would not have driven."
Pieper also had a queasy feeling in his stomach - but that only turned up later. When he got on the bus in Geretsried at one o'clock last Sunday, everything was still in order. “The mood was okay. We chatted, sometimes even laughed. ”But with every kilometer the volunteers got closer to the disaster, the atmosphere in the bus became more tense. The conversations fell silent. “In the end we were completely calm,” recalls Pieper. It dawned on everyone: “This is not a class trip.” Hermann describes the last few minutes on the bus as follows: “We all had the hope that the situation would be a little better than we feared.” Then she looked out the window - “It always was one more, huge chaos. "
The postcard panorama was completely washed away.
There is pure despair in people's faces
The Geretsrieder were divided into small villages to help.
Ahrbrück, Kesseling and Dernau were the names of their locations.
These are actually idyllic places with vineyards, pretty chapels and mountain huts.
The postcard panorama was completely washed away.
“Sometimes there are no more streets, people cannot go into their apartments.
They only fetch water from large bins.
At night the places are pitch black because there is no electricity, ”reports Hermann.
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Back in Geretsried: Claudia Hermann (33) enjoys the peace and quiet, Thomas Pieper (39) is now on duty again in the disaster area.
© Hans Lippert
The train of the BRK set up stations for the voluntary helpers on site.
A gymnasium became an accommodation for over 200 people.
The Geretsrieder organized a food distribution for police officers, volunteers - and for the residents who have lost their homes.
“Some didn't dare to take as much food from us as they actually need,” says Hermann.
Incredible despair was written on people's faces - and gratitude.
The Geretsrieder also looked after helpers who had injured themselves during their operations.
In short: The Geretsrieder did a backbreaking job that also put a lot of psychological strain on them.
Whenever you have time: sleep!
Nobody knows when you can do it next time
Instructions for the volunteers
“I started the first assignment at 6 a.m.
I didn't fall into bed until 3:00 am, ”recalls Pieper.
In between there were 21 hours of hard work.
There were instructions for the helpers: “Whenever you have time: sleep!
Nobody knows when you can do it next time. "
Thomas Pieper is already back on the job
After four days, the ten Geretsrieder returned home completely exhausted.
For Thomas Pieper it was only a short visit home.
He is now in Rhineland-Palatinate for the second time to help.
This time in the communication team, which divides the helpers and maintains an overview as far as possible in the midst of the chaos.
Also read: A Tölz meteorologist causes a stir: He predicted the flood disaster
Claudia Hermann, on the other hand, is happy about the peace and quiet that she enjoys - back in Geretsried.
“You learn to appreciate total normalcy when you've seen the situation there,” she says.
And then the 33-year-old explains, almost a little amazed at her own words, how happy she is about tap water, a functioning toilet, electricity or drivable roads.
And about being able to hug her eight-year-old daughter again.
Hermann doesn't want to answer her daughter's questions - to protect her
After her return, the little one asked her mother many questions. “I'll explain to her what we did. That we helped people and distributed food. ”The mother keeps the details about the destroyed villages to herself. “I don't want to tell her everything.” Even if she wanted to - she couldn't put her impressions into words anyway. “You can't imagine how things go there if you haven't been there yourself.” Just like the ten volunteers from Geretsried.
