In Grimma, Saxony, strangers damage parts of the flood protection system. Shortly thereafter, the power went out in the Leipzig district capital.
Grimma – The Mulde city of Grimma is particularly vulnerable to flooding. When the flood protection system, which cost around 60 million euros, was completed in 2019, the city believed that it was prepared for a flood such as in 2002 and 2013. Now, however, the city in the Leipzig district is facing a dangerous situation. Unknown people probably damaged a flood gate and adjacent parts of the flood protection system on the night of Sunday (July 25, 2021).
It was no longer just a matter of vandalism, admitted Grimma’s non-party mayor Matthias Berger “horrified”: “That is terrorism”. Since “it is well known that every chain is only as strong as its weakest link”, the district town is “completely defenseless, especially now in the high water season”, says Berger. If it came to an emergency, “3,300 lives and 800 buildings would have been exposed to the flood and the construction of the flood protection system would have been in vain”.
Axel Bobbe, operations manager Mulde of the state dam administration in Saxony, expressed the assumption that “foreign celebrants” were responsible for the damage. Lord Mayor Berger immediately made an urgent appeal to the responsible authorities such as the police and public prosecutor’s office to react “promptly” and to “deliver” the results of the investigation. According to the city administration, the stranger was supposed to bend pieces of iron at a larger flood gate in the area of Volkshausplatz, which means that it can no longer be closed.
After damage to the flood protection wall, the power fails in Grimma
This means that city authorities and the local fire brigade have to help each other out with sandbags, should there be a sharp rise in the hollow. Overall, the damage done to the flood gate and adjacent parts of the wall is probably in the five-digit range, but the rest of the complex flood protection wall is intact and not endangered.
| city | Grimma |
| district | Leipzig |
| Federal State | Saxony |
| population | 28,149 (as of Dec. 31, 2020) |
| surface | 217.4 km² |
| Lord Mayor | Matthias Berger (independent) |
Just a few minutes after the damage to the flood protection system became known, the MDR also tweeted that the power had failed in more than 18,000 households in the district town and the surrounding area. This is what the Leipziger Volkszeitung reported, citing the energy supplier enviaM. The reason for this is an accident in the Grimma substation. (Mirko Schmid with dpa)
