In Erftstadt in North Rhine-Westphalia the earth opened up in mid-July and devoured several houses. Since then there has been a huge crater there. Maria Dunkel’s house is still standing. But she doesn’t want to go back.
Erftstadt – It looks like a meteorite has struck. Roads end nowhere, a car hangs with its front wheels over the abyss. An incalculable landscape of craters stretches out beneath a dark band of clouds.
Like other places in North Rhine-Westphalia and Rhineland-Palatinate, the Erftstadt-Blessem district was flooded on July 15. But the following night something else happened here: Suddenly the earth opened up and devoured streets and houses.
Maria Dunkel is 67 years old and has been living in a house on Radmacherstrasse for 49 years, which is now only a few meters away from the demolition edge. A red circle with an X is sprayed on the wall of the house. “This is from the fire department,” explains her son Thomas Dunkel (47). “The circle means” stability must be checked “, and the X means” there are no more people inside “.”
Maria Dunkel can still see how the brown flood shot through the street on July 15th. The Erft, usually a quiet river, had become a kind of Amazon. When her husband Ulrich (73) noticed the following night that the water was slowly sinking, they believed the worst was over. They went to bed. In the morning they looked out the window and saw – nothing. “You can’t imagine an empty blue,” says Maria Dunkel. “Blue from the water and from the sky. But no houses. Nothing.”
Three houses had disappeared overnight, and in their place a waterfall thundered eight meters down. “The houses are gone – get out quickly, otherwise we’ll be gone too,” her husband called. The couple reached a parallel street via the terrace and the garden. There, Maria Dunkel made a Bundeswehr soldier aware that several neighbors were still locked in their apartments.
One of them was the 79 year old Günter Groten. He and his wife were rescued by helicopter. His house remained standing, he lost his carrier pigeon breeding: “All the pigeon lofts plopped into the huge hole. I couldn’t see them anymore, it went so deep. “
A total of eight houses were lost. Three were destroyed by the landslide, a fourth has already been demolished, and four more are still being removed. The fact that there were no dead or seriously injured people is a miracle for anyone who has ever stood on the edge of the crater.
So the Dunkels are still lucky: They live and they have their house. Nevertheless, nothing will be the same with them either. It is true that the road is to be restored once the edge has been secured. But Maria Dunkel doesn’t want to go back to her house. “With every raindrop I would be afraid that the water would come back. I wouldn’t survive that anymore because I’ll have a heart attack. “
She is not even allowed to enter the house yet. As long as the demolition work is in progress a few meters away, the authorities consider this to be too dangerous. So far, she has only been allowed in for an hour, accompanied by a man from the public order office. The damage is great and the renovation work should take months. She now lives with her husband in a temporary apartment.
The road is a huge construction site. Transporters with debris block the way, huge excavator shovels dig into piles of rubble. In the immediate vicinity you can see the empty ground floors that look like a shell. A vase of flowers, covered with flood mud, still stands on a windowsill. In another place are two teddy bears drawn by the water. It looks like the big one is holding the little one in his arms.
Who pays for the damage? “Many are not insured for such cases and are now virtually left with nothing,” says Erftstadt mayor Carolin Weitzel (CDU). 4.4 million euros in emergency aid have already been paid out to around 2000 applicants. 5.5 million euros in donations are to be distributed soon. “Of course, it is clear to us that this will by far not be enough to cover the damage suffered by those affected,” says Weitzel.
Many residents suspect that the landslide is related to an immediately adjacent gravel pit. The heavy rain and the Erft had flooded the pit. “Our old mayor always said:” The gravel pit is too big and too close to Blessem “, says Maria Dunkel. “Everyone laughed at him at the time – and it came true.” Mayor Weitzel says that independent experts from the Geological Service of North Rhine-Westphalia are investigating the cause of the erosion. The public prosecutor’s office in Cologne is investigating the suspicion of building risk.
Maria Dunkel goes to the car with her son Thomas. Once around the corner, she is greeted by a neighbor. Only in the second moment does the woman seem to realize who is standing in front of her. “Maria!” She calls. And then she runs up to her and hugs her. dpa
