Скачать или смотреть Questions about Germany flood alerts as cost counted

(23 Jul 2021) With the economic damage from last week's floods in Germany and neighboring countries running into the billions, and more than 210 people dead, questions have been raised about why systems designed to warn people of the impending disaster didn't work.
Like other residents in the district of Ahrweiler, Wolfgang Huste knew a flood was coming.
What nobody told them was how bad it would be.
The 66-year-old antiquarian bookseller said the first serious warning from authorities to evacuate buildings close to the Ahr river or move to higher floors came in the evening.
A short siren burst followed and the church bells rang, then silence.
"It was spooky, like in a horror film," said Huste.
He rushed to rescue his car from an underground garage, but as soon as he'd parked it on the street the water had reached knee height. Five minutes later, with Huste safely indoors, he saw it floating down the street.
"The warning time was far too short," said Huste.
Some sirens failed as the electricity was cut. In others, there were no sirens at all, leaving volunteer firefighters to go knocking on people's doors to tell them what to do.
Local officials who were responsible for triggering disaster alarms in the Ahr valley on July 14 have kept a low profile since the flood.
Authorities in Rhineland-Palatinate state, where Ahrweiler is located, took charge of the disaster response in the wake of the floods, but declined Friday to be drawn on what mistakes might have been made on the night disaster struck.
"People are looking at a life in ruins here. Some have lost relatives, there were many dead," said Thomas Linnertz, the state official now coordinating the disaster response.
"I can understand the anger very well. But on the other hand I have to say again: this was an event that nobody could have predicted."

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