“IIt looks like a bomb exploded. Everything is ruined. There’s nothing in the city centre,” said Michaela Wolff, a winemaker from one of the German towns, one of the towns most affected by catastrophic flooding last week.
Her family vineyard and hotel, Weingut Sonnenberg, is usually crowded with tourists walking down the wine trail. This weekend, after a few days of heavy rain, when the Ahr embankment burst on Wednesday, it was crowded with desperate refugees from their destroyed homes.
“We have water and electricity. Natural gas has been shut down, but we have more than most people,” she said. “It’s chaotic here, absolutely chaotic.”
Flooding in western Germany and Belgium At least 160 people have been killedThe worst-hit area was the Ahrweiler district, which included the town of Bad Neuenahr in Wolf.
So far, 98 people have been confirmed dead there, 12 of whom died in homes for the disabled. More people are missing, and the death toll is expected to increase.
Thousands of people are also homeless, and the economic impact of losing their homes and businesses and the cost of repairing infrastructure can be as high as billions.
Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler is a historic spa town surrounded by picturesque vineyards and inhabited by many small-scale wine merchants. Earlier this week, continuous rains for several days caused the town to be divided into two by several feet of water in the lower reaches of the Aar River.
The road is left Buried in water and mud, the car was thrown aside On the square, some buildings were washed away. A house was open to the street, as if a bomb had blown its front wall.
Wolf’s cellar is the only cellar in town that escapes the water wall, and it’s a dangerous road. “The water stopped only a few centimeters from our door. We had incredible luck.” Since the flood began to recede, she has been working day and night with her family to help the local cleanup and rescue efforts.
In addition to the terrible casualties, damage to infrastructure including roads, bridges and railways may take months to repair. The Prime Minister of the Netherlands stated that this consequence has prompted people to begin political reckoning of the costs of climate change. Mark Rutte Friday directly attributed the intensity of the flooding to changing weather patterns.
When asked whether global warming had caused this disaster, he said, “There is no doubt that it is.” He added: “I don’t want to make a hasty announcement… but something is happening, let’s make it clear.”
The flood comes in a few weeks Record-breaking heat wave Caused hundreds of deaths in Canada and the United States. Scientists say that this kind of extreme high temperature is “near impossible” without climate change.
30 miles northwest of Bad Neuenaar, the Bryson district of Erftstadt seems to be the first to bear the brunt, as overflowing Erft poured into a gravel quarry, causing landslides, collapsed houses The highway was buried.
The National Guard and fire departments from all over the country arrived on Friday with boats and diving teams to assist in the search and rescue operation. The dam has stabilized. But on Saturday, it was thought to be at risk of bursting again, causing people on the evacuation route to scramble again.
After the flood on Thursday, no one took the risk, which seemed to catch many people in Erftstadt by surprise. When the quarry collapsed, it overflowed onto the highway, trapping trucks and cars on the main road connecting Cologne and the southern Eiffel area.
The Minister of the Interior of North Rhine-Westphalia, Herbert Reul, said before digging the vehicles that they expected to find some vehicles in 32 feet of water.
The speed of the flooding and the number of people still missing mean that the death toll is expected to rise further. “We have to assume that we will find more victims,” said Carolin Weitzel, the mayor of Elfstadt.
In the center of Erftstadt, in order to pay tribute to the dead, residents came to a flooded cemetery, laid stones and lit candles. A family with young children crowded at the entrance of the cemetery, tears streaming down their faces.
Next door, a supermarket closed due to flooding is distributing non-perishable items and bottled water to people living in nearby school grounds. About 80 evacuees have been granted asylum in nearby Cologne.
Others were sent to cities in the area, unsure whether they would be able to go home. If they do, it is not yet clear where the flood survivors will return.
“There is no more infrastructure,” Wolfe said. “With the disappearance of the bridge, we are cut off from the other side of the town. The death toll is increasing every hour. Emotionally, we have reached the limit.”
