In the disaster areas, medical practices have also been destroyed, and mobile counterparts are needed. One of them is in Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler and is now receiving a visit from the top of the German Red Cross.
Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler – After the storm disaster, the President of the German Red Cross (DRK) will get an idea of the situation in Rhineland-Palatinate this Thursday.
Gerda Hasselfeldt will visit an outpatient medical practice of the DRK in Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler. She also wants to draw a first summary of the deployment so far, look to the coming weeks and comment on how well Germany is prepared for such disasters. Hasselfeldt recently called for better prevention and pointed out that extreme weather conditions will increase over the next few years.
According to previous knowledge, at least 172 people were killed in the flood disaster. People were still missing – most of them in the particularly affected district of Ahrweiler in the north of Rhineland-Palatinate. Parts of the region still have neither water nor electricity.
Meanwhile, the base camp for the deployment of technical aid organizations, fire brigade, rescue services and the German armed forces for the flood disaster area in the Ahr valley has been built on the Nürburgring vehicle fleet. 4500 to 4700 helpers are expected on the site on Thursday night, said operations manager Heinz Wolschendorf on Wednesday evening during a visit by Prime Minister Malu Dreyer and Interior Minister Roger Lewentz (both SPD).
On Thursday morning, the Bundeswehr will also fly low over the Ahr valley in an Airbus. The aircraft stationed in Geilenkirchen, North Rhine-Westphalia, will use thermal and infrared cameras to provide new knowledge and data about the river bed after the flood. The Air Force had already helped with a special aircraft on Wednesday with a more precise assessment of the storm damage in western Germany.
In North Rhine-Westphalia, meanwhile, many residents of the Erftstadt-Blessem district affected by a landslide are allowed to return to their apartments and houses on Thursday at times. With construction fences, emergency services have already set up a safety zone of 100 meters around the edge of the gravel pit. For the streets outside this radius, the city had planned to let residents into their apartments individually and briefly in order to secure personal belongings. For safety reasons, however, emergency services should accompany the respective residents.
This Thursday (11.00 a.m.) the North Rhine-Westphalian cabinet is discussing the consequences of the storm disaster and emergency aid. Prime Minister Armin Laschet (CDU) had already announced that NRW would provide 200 million euros in emergency aid for the victims and that the payments would be processed quickly. Further help comes from the federal government.
Green parliamentary group leader Katrin Göring-Eckardt called for more support for volunteers in the rescue and disaster services after the flood disaster. Both the helpers and the voluntary work itself must be “materially and structurally strengthened,” she told the newspapers of the Funke media group (Thursday). “For this, an unbureaucratic special fund is urgently needed for rescue and disaster services when equipment wears out in action or material is missing.” After this crisis, “massive investments must be made in promoting young talent,” she demanded, among other things. dpa
