Shocking failure of German government in last year’s flood

A year after the floods in Rhineland-Palatinate and North Rhine-Westphalia, it appears that at least part of the 184 fatalities could have been saved if the authorities had reacted appropriately.

Reports from a commission of inquiry show that local administrators and state politicians failed to warn and evacuate in disbelief that things would get this bad, because they shirked responsibility, or simply because they didn’t answer their phones.

“Everyone is re-envisioning the devastating water these days,” Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD) said in Berlin on Wednesday. Faeser presented a new disaster prevention plan, which should prevent the same blundering as in July last year. Faeser and Chancellor Olaf Scholz will visit two municipalities that were affected last year on Thursday.

In the night of 14 to 15 July, lovely meandering rivers such as the Erft and the Ahr turned into devastating tidal waves after heavy rainfall. In the Ahr Valley alone, 133 people died and 9,000 houses were destroyed.

Since August last year, a committee has been investigating how it is possible that no one was prepared for such a disaster. In the Ahr Valley, the district head and the leader of the crisis team are at the center of the investigation; both refused to testify before the commission of inquiry in recent days.

The crisis team had hardly any reach, the state minister was out for dinner and the district head parked his car a little higher

On the afternoon before the flooding, the regional weather service warned that the water in the river could rise by an “unbelievable five meters.” A district mayor begged for a state of emergency to be declared. Instead, the district chief went home and parked his red Porsche, which was parked right on the river at his house, on higher ground. He warned some neighbors about the high water. It was not until eleven o’clock in the evening, when the first houses had already been swept away by the water, that he ordered the crisis team to send an emergency WhatsApp.

The crisis team was located further down in a basement with poor coverage. At a certain point there was no news at all from the municipalities themselves, because power and telephone connections were cut. The district head and the head of the crisis team are suspected by the judiciary of culpable homicide.

Things also went wrong at state level. The environment minister, Anne Spiegel (Groenen), said the afternoon before the disaster that the situation was serious, but not extreme. Spiegel was already aware of the five meter rise that the weather service predicted. On the night itself, Spiegel was difficult to reach because she was out for dinner. The next day, according to reports that became public in the commission of inquiry, she was mainly busy covering up her mistakes from the day before. Ten days after the disaster, Spiegel went on holiday in France, which she could not hide because the meetings were held digitally. Spiegel, Minister of Family Affairs in the Scholz cabinet, had to resign in April.

Need better protection

On Wednesday, Faeser called “extreme weather, flooding, forest fires” phenomena that will become more common and against which the population must be better protected.

The president of the Office of Civil Protection and Disaster Management, who co-presented the report with Faeser, said in an interview: “In view of climate change and the acute threat of extreme weather and flooding, some areas should not be redeveloped. And you also have to ask that question in the coastal areas.”

Faeser’s ministry also estimates that many victims could have been prevented in July last if better warning had been given. Phone alerts only got people who had installed a particular app in July of last year; a general warning system in which everyone receives a text message, such as in the Netherlands, was not available until recently and is now being rolled out. Sirens have broken down in Germany in recent years. “We’ve felt too confident for too long,” Faeser said. In the official German maze of responsible authorities, clarity must be gained as to who should do what. Last year, when the minister, the district head, and the crisis team called off, the volunteer fire brigade made a last-ditch effort: using loudspeakers, they drove through the villages, urging them to leave the houses.

Also read about how things are going in Belgium: A year after the floods, Walloons are still camping in the attic, until the recovery team comes

German media ruled harshly on Wednesday. Weekly magazine Die Zeit titled above a reconstruction ‘The ignorant’broadcaster ARD broadcast a documentary titled: ‘The flood. Chronicle of a failure.’

A year after the disaster in Belgium page 4-5

A version of this article also appeared in the newspaper of 14 July 2022