Two women from Lechrain left on their own to help people in Ahrweiler who were particularly hard hit by the floods.
Denklingen
- Together with her friend Christiane Streit from Mundraching, the thinker Gisela Schweitzer has returned from a two-day assignment from Ahrweiler, which was particularly hard hit by the floods in July. And for Schweitzer one thing is certain: In September, when she is on vacation, she will travel back to the north of Rhineland-Palatinate for a week to make a small contribution to the clean-up work after the devastating flood disaster.
19 years ago, Gisela Schweitzer, who was still living in Munich at the time, helped out after a flood event and helped a single woman in Glonn near Ebersberg to bring furniture out of the house and to do a lot of household washing.
But what she saw at the time is nothing compared to the impressions with which she recently returned from the flood area in Ahrweiler, she says.
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Traveled to Ahrweiler to help: Christiane Streit (left) from Mundraching and Gisela Schweitzer from Denklingen.
© Private
Women from Lechrain help after the flood in Ahrweiler: "Like a ghost town"
“The people are at their end,” Gisela Schweitzer stated on site.
At four o'clock in the morning, the 51-year-old woman with the hands-on nature and her friend Christiane left for Koblenz on their own initiative.
From there, a bus went on to Ahrweiler.
Like many other helpers, the two women from Lechrain have been given gloves, a bucket and a shovel.
Your first impression of Ahrweiler after the flood disaster: “Like a ghost town”.
Many residents are on and off to friends, relatives or in an emergency camp.
There is no running water, no electricity;
the stench was terrible.
The two women hadn't seen a house where the windows on the ground floor hadn't been destroyed.
Specifically, Streit and Schweitzer helped a young homeowner in Ahrweiler who is all tenants of it.
Like two dozen other people, the two Lechrainers lined up in a chain of buckets to move "Batz, Dreck und Schlamm" from the cellar to a truck.
The pipes in a bakery have also been freed from the worst dirt.
A 75-year-old homeowner was "totally exhausted".
A group of helpers, including Christiane Streit and Gisela Schweitzer, had helped him clean up at least one room-sized area outdoors.
"So that the person concerned also sees something other than dirt and crap."
Gisela Schweitzer, who grew up in Wildsteig, was able to stay overnight with her friend Christiane Streit with a former teacher near Koblenz.
He took the two of them - what a contrast to Ahrweiler - to the Veste near Koblenz and after hours in the dirt and mud and a thorough shower showed a bit of culture.
Denklingerin wants to go back to the flood area in September and tackle it
“I know that I will“ drive up ”again,” says Gisela Schweitzer.
In September when she's on vacation.
The mother of two children works part-time for the cavalry squadron of the Munich police headquarters and, together with her husband, looks after the animals at the “Naczerosa” sanctuary near Denklingen.
In September she would like to offer her help again after the flood disaster in western Germany for at least five days, maybe even a week.
To do this, she probably takes the train to Koblenz and then takes the bus for helpers to the Ahrweiler district.
If you still have time and are interested in riding, Gisela Schweitzer is just asking around and organizing.
But like the first time, she sets out on her own again - without affiliation to an organization such as THW or fire brigade.
Helpers from Peiting and Weilheim also traveled to the flood area in Ahrweiler to help those affected and to clean up.
There was also devastation in the Berchtesgadener Land after floods.
Farmers from the Weilheim-Schongau district have set up an aid campaign.
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