49 dead and billions in damage - that is the balance of the flood in North Rhine-Westphalia so far.
Has the state government not responded adequately to warnings about the flood?
An investigative committee of the state parliament is now working on the political responsibility.
Düsseldorf - In order to come to terms with the flood disaster in North Rhine-Westphalia with 49 deaths, the state parliament's committee of inquiry is to hear weather expert Jörg Kachelmann, among others.
Almost three months after the flood of the century, the committee began its work on Friday.
According to the will of the opposition factions SPD and Greens, the outgoing Prime Minister Armin Laschet, his designated successor Hendrik Wüst, Interior Minister Herbert Reul (all CDU) should also be invited as witnesses - as well as State Chancellor Nathanael Liminski and the Minister for the Environment and Local Affairs, Ursula Heine-Esser and Ina Scharrenbach (both CDU).
The state parliament body with court-like powers is to investigate possible omissions, omissions, misjudgments or misconduct of the NRW state government and subordinate authorities in connection with the devastating flood in the period from July 12th to 15th. Committee chairman Ralf Witzel (FDP) announced that a report on the findings available up to that point would be presented to the state parliament in spring 2022. In May 2022 there are state elections in North Rhine-Westphalia.
The opposition wants the committee to shed light on the days before the heavy rain on July 9, when the EU's EFAS early warning system issued the first warning. The British hydrology professor Hannah Cloke, who was involved in setting up EFAS, has also been invited as an expert. She had accused the German authorities of "monumental" system failure in the flood disaster. Clear EFAS information had already been issued four days before the first floods, but apparently did not reach the population, Cloke (University of Reading) had told the "Sunday Times".
Weather expert Kachelmann warned in a tweet on July 13th at noon that “it might be time to gradually prepare people for a flood scenario, both officially and in the media”.
The following night it came to the floods.
The U-Committee had enforced the SPD and the Greens.
Among other things, they want to know why the country's crisis team was not activated.
The CDU / FDP state government defended itself against the accusation that it had misjudged the risk of the flood disaster.
The SPD spokesman in the committee, Stefan Kämmerling, said: “It has to be a committee of inquiry for the citizens concerned.” The point is to draw “very practical conclusions” from the body's findings so that such an occurrence does not repeat itself .
"The state government has not protected people's belongings, but also human lives."
The SPD and the Greens requested access to the files of several NRW ministries and the State Chancellery as well as the Federal Ministries for Transport, Interior and Defense.
The German Weather Service and the Technical Relief Organization (THW), for example, are part of the departments of the federal ministries.
The Bundeswehr was deployed in the flood areas.
In addition, the opposition demands that official telecommunication data of the members of the state government be backed up and released during the flood.
The SPD named 14 days as the deadline for submitting the files.
The storms with unusually heavy rainfall had triggered a flood disaster in Rhineland-Palatinate and North Rhine-Westphalia in mid-July.
In NRW alone 49 people lost their lives.
Whole areas were devastated by the masses of water.
According to initial estimates, damage amounting to around 13 billion euros occurred in North Rhine-Westphalia alone.
In Rhineland-Palatinate, too, where more than 130 people were killed, an investigative committee is working on the flood disaster.
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In the 21st century, there was a flash flood in Rhineland-Palatinate with 134 deaths.
Many victims were surprised in their sleep due to a lack of warnings.
Why?
A committee of inquiry should clarify this.
A minister could come under further pressure.
CDU: U committee could start in the fall
Ahrweiler district pays further emergency aid to private households
Flood victims in the Ahrweiler district can expect a further 20 million euros in donations.
As the district administration of Ahrweiler announced on Thursday, every private household registered in the database and entitled to receive will receive around 1200 euros from October.
The purpose of the emergency aid is to provide affected people with money for essential errands.
Ahrweiler district pays further emergency aid to private households
Such a body is considered to be the strongest instrument of Parliament.
In North Rhine-Westphalia, the committee begins its work around seven months before the end of the legislative period.
A new state parliament will be elected on May 15, 2022.
"We only have a few months until May 2022 for our investigation work," said Kämmerling.
"We would like to fulfill the mandate of this committee in this legislature."
Laschet wants to give up his post as prime minister at the end of October.
The Union Chancellor candidate had won a Bundestag mandate in the federal election, which ended in a historic debacle for the CDU / CSU.
His successor in North Rhine-Westphalia is to be the current Minister of Transport, Wüst.
dpa