Fears of more heavy rain as Germany focusses on recovery after floods
AROUND a week after massive oods hit western Germany, residents could face further heavy rain in the worst-hit regions this weekend.
The ood disaster claimed more than 170 lives, while more than 150 people are still missing.
Showery rain and thunderstorms are expected in Rhineland-Palatinate and also in Saarland, with thunderstorms also possible in neighbouring North Rhine Westphalia at the weekend.
On Thursday, the national weather service DWD spoke of the disaster as a “once-in-acentury event.”
According to the data, more and the most intense rain in Germany usually occurs between May and September. “It can therefore be assumed that further events will occur in 2021,” the DWD said.
Meanwhile, Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) asked the population for a joint effort to cope with the disaster.
“We will need to take a long breath to repair all this damage,” Merkel said in Berlin on Thursday.
The federal government has made an amount of 200 million euros (235.82 million dollars) available for emergency aid, with more money coming from the states.
In the coming days and weeks, she said, discussions would be held with the federal states’ premiers on how to organize a joint reconstruction fund.
The head of Germany’s national disaster management agency has admitted problems with its warning systems after the devastating oods.
“The tragedy can’t be properly described in words,” the head of the Federal Office for Civil Protection and Disaster Assistance (BBK), Armin Schuster, said on broadcaster ARD.
When it came to the warning system, he said “It didn’t go optimally.” “My office has a lot of know-how and little jurisdiction. We only press the warning button in the event of war,” Schuster said, referring to the fact that the federal government is only responsible for civil protection in the event of a national con ict.
“Otherwise, we make our system available to the states and municipalities and they use it,” he explained.
The question now, he said, is how to improve the warning system, for example with more sirens and warnings via SMS to mobiles.
Interior Minister Horst Seehofer (CSU) had already decided in principle that the warnings could come via SMS, which would mean sending to all recipients who are in cell tower range at the time.
In the ood areas of Rhineland-Palatinate, the police have so far recorded 31 criminal offences. Of these, 25 were property-related, state Interior Minister Roger Lewentz reported on Thursday.
Four provisional arrests had been made. However, there were no concrete indications of looting. “Previous reports about an alleged large number of lootings have not been confirmed so far.”