Erding - Is the flood damage to the Hotel Victory at Therme Erding homemade?
This is the view of the free voters in the city council.
The thermal baths reject the allegation.
Is the flood damage at the Thermen-Hotel Victory homemade?
Was the risk of flooding from the Itzlinger Graben underestimated?
This is the view of Hans Fehlberger, spokesman for the Free Voters in the Erdinger City Council.
The thermal baths reject the allegation.
Fehlberger sees parallels in the current floods in Erding with the June floods in 2013. Only the consequences are not so devastating this time. "It was seen that the maintenance of the trenches, culverts and pipes paid off because almost nothing happened at the critical points," said Fehlberger in an interview with our newspaper. When it comes to flood protection, he calls for thoughtful, sensible and feasible action that has the whole city in view.
The flooding of the basement in the Thermen-Hotel Victory is a homemade problem for Fehlberger. As is well known, masses of water from the overflowing Itzlinger Graben, which runs only a few meters from the hotel, penetrated and damaged office, fitness and storage rooms, cooling and electrical systems in a very short time. The basement of the wave pool was also affected. According to initial estimates, the damage is 1.5 million euros, said Thermen manager Marcus Maier yesterday.
Although there is a sheet pile wall in front of the floor-to-ceiling window fronts of the hotel basement as flood protection, the windows are two meters lower than the natural edge of the terrain, explains Fehlberger. Knowing the location, he says that many areas around the Itzlinger Graben slope towards it, creating an interior basin. "Anyone who expands their business out there has to know that and take it into account for their own protection," says Fehlberger.
If, as in the past few days, there is prolonged rainfall and all soils and meadows are saturated with water, the water will flow into the Itzlinger Graben.
The backwater at the point where the trench flows about 50 meters further into a pipe can hardly be prevented for Fehlberger.
He emphasizes: Until a few years ago, the Itzlinger Graben ran entirely above ground.
The piping was only done in 2014.
The hotel parking lot was built over it.
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The pipe into which the Itzlinger Graben next to the hotel car park flows is one meter in diameter.
© Günter Herkner
Maier cannot understand Fehlberger's allegations.
At that time, the sheet pile wall was built beyond the level of the flood of the century in 2013.
At that time they were convinced that that was enough.
"But the weather has changed massively in the past few years."
According to him, the height of the sheet pile wall is 1.50 meters above the streambed.
The Itzlinger Graben is usually a small brook, around 60 centimeters wide.
"On Monday morning it was almost 15 meters," says Maier.
In the thermal baths, too, people are thinking about improved flood protection.
It is also up for discussion to raise the sheet pile wall by one meter, said Maier.
Meanwhile, the clean-up work is in full swing.
Up to 90 helpers are on duty - mostly in the basement, which was 1.50 meters under water.
"We were lucky that the water was gone again relatively quickly." For example, the pumps were not damaged.
However, as a precaution, replacements were ordered in order to be prepared if the existing ones should fail in the next few weeks.
"We are cautiously optimistic that we will be able to reopen the Hotel Victory next weekend," reports the thermal baths.
That is the big goal.
Maier was not yet able to say whether the freight elevator would at least be running again by then.
This is used, among other things, to distribute the laundry on the floors.
The main elevator for the guests will be longer.
In the wave pool on Tuesday, more than 30 employees were busy bringing the cellar and, above all, the technology back into shape.
"The high-performance pumps are dried in a kind of oven at 120 degrees, and a small part of the water treatment system is already in circulation again."
Maier is happy that the work is progressing so quickly.
The Crazy River flow channel with outdoor pool and pool bar as well as the fountain could be put back into operation on Wednesday afternoon, the inside wave pool and the outside slides not yet.
