The first signs of the flood disaster in Germany had already been recorded by satellites nine days earlier. Four days before the floods, the European flood warning system (Efas) warned the governments of the Federal Republic and Belgium of floods on the Rhine and Meuse.
Twenty-four hours in advance, the German authorities were predicted almost precisely which districts would be affected by flooding, including areas on the Ahr where more than 93 people later died. This is what Hannah Cloke, professor of hydrology at Reading University in the UK and one of the developers of the European flood warning system, told the Sunday Times.
Cloke said a “monumental system failure” resulted in one of the deadliest natural disasters in Germany since the war. “The fact that people haven’t evacuated or received the warnings suggests something may have gone wrong.”
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Cloke said not all locations were accurately predicted, but there had been time to give full warning to a large area. She told ZDF that the data had been transmitted to Germany, but “somewhere this warning chain is broken, so that the warnings have not reached the people”.
This draws attention to the German Weather Service (DWD) in Offenbach, which received the warnings from the European flood warning system. A spokesman for the DWD told the ZDF that the warning management on the part of his authority had gone very well. “We did what had to be done.”
The German Weather Service blames the media
They have warned the municipality, with enough advance notice, of amounts of rain of up to 200 liters per square meter. In many places, the highest warning level applied. The DWD spokesman also pointed out that the warning messages were not spread by all media. “In the next few weeks we will process this with everyone involved.”
Scientist Cloke sees failure in Germany on several levels. “There is no nationwide uniform approach to flood risks. Different flood plans are needed for different scenarios. ”
Cloke also blames the individual citizen. Everyone has to take care of emergency plans, food reserves and medical supplies.
Hartmut Ziebs, President of the German Fire Brigade Association from 2016 to 2019, also makes serious accusations against the federal government. This did not involve the population enough in the national disaster control, because one does not want to “burden” the people with it.
In an open letter, quoted from “Bild”, it says: “For years the federal government has carried out exercises under the title Lükex. The unthinkable was played through and analyzed. Catalogs of demands were drawn up. Consequences? Holds zero! Can’t happen, mustn’t happen, we can’t explain it to the population, it costs too much money, the list of reasons for rejection is almost inexhaustible. ”
