Many victims of the flood disaster in western Germany have to do without heating in winter. Since large parts of the natural gas network were destroyed by the water masses in July, many people in the Ahr valley could not initially be supplied, the local energy supplier EVM announced on Thursday. Emergency shelters are to be provided for some of those affected.
In Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler, EVM reports that around 3500 grid connections will be back on gas from December at the earliest. The urban area north of the Ahr is particularly affected, said a spokeswoman. The households south of the Ahr should be reconnected in the course of October. Then the heating season usually begins with the first few days of frost.
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The city of Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler asked the energy suppliers EVM and Ahrtalwerke to support the citizens with alternative heating options. That could be mobile liquid gas tanks or a connection to the less destroyed district heating network, said Mayor Guido Orthen.
A certain part of the residents will not get a solution in time. Emergency shelter in the form of containers will be provided for these people. Orthen said there are probably a few hundred affected. “We currently have a need for around 150 people.” The number will increase, however, as many are probably only now realizing that the energy supply is not guaranteed everywhere.
The SWR reported that even further up in the Ahr valley, many residents were worried about the coming autumn and winter. The towns there had not been connected to the gas network before, and the houses usually had their own gas or heating oil tanks. In the particularly affected places such as Dernau, Altenahr, Ahrbrück or Schuld, many of the tanks were destroyed or washed away.
According to the Energieversorgung Mittelrhein (EVM), 133 kilometers of natural gas pipelines and more than 7000 network connections as well as numerous gas pressure regulating and measuring systems were damaged or completely destroyed by the flood in the Ahr Valley. “This is the greatest damage event in the history of our company after the Second World War,” said CEO Josef Rönz. The repairs were carried out at full speed. But since all Ahr crossings have also been destroyed, the rebuilding of the gas supply is particularly costly. (Reuters)
