And now imagine a politician visiting the devastated region and he’s having a good laugh in the background during the presidential speech.

@julianmolder8162

26 күн бұрын

Yes that Thing was so shity

@dershihaya2263

26 күн бұрын

i dont think he loughed about the event and there plenty of ppl that blind out events with humor your own psyche protects you. but yeah you are right a professional politician should have his gestures in control

@Anthyrion

26 күн бұрын

But... one of his buddies made a joke. And when someone makes a joke... you simply have to laugh. 🤮

@chrizz5982

26 күн бұрын

@@julianmolder8162That and a bunch of other things.

@uptoolsYTK

26 күн бұрын

That would be so crazy, who would do something like that? ...hust...hust

The reason why so many people died is that the warning systems did NOT work! A few hours before the flood it was already predicted that huge amounts of rain were expected, more than ever before. The people in charge (I think also the district administrator), who should have been responsible for warning the people, did not take this seriously, so that the villages were not evacuated but surprised by the amount of water.

@andreasfischer9158

26 күн бұрын

Well, that was predicted four days prior to the disaster.

@the_shadow_4427

26 күн бұрын

well they did actually try to warn them, but only very few people had installed the application "nina" or similar ones for warning; plus this happened at night so many people were surprised by the flood and might not have had a chance to escape their home when they woke up, because the water level was too high

@vomm

26 күн бұрын

The real reason why so many people died is that they've built their houses on a place where this kind of flood happens periodically like every 50yrs despite all warnings from scientists. It's like building your house on an active vulcano. And btw there were warnings but people did not take it serious and just parked their cars in their garage as preparation. Just because there was no cell broadcast does not mean there were no warnings at all, it's just the media focusing on the missing cellbroadcast to make an artificial scandal up for the clicks.

@Drae-909

26 күн бұрын

@@andreasfischer9158 Tbh it was predicted for decades it would happen in the region.

@robind.8695

26 күн бұрын

The states minister of the interior, who would have been responsible, did not take it seriously and instead flew into her holidays the same evening if I remember correctly. Also when the warning was supposed to be sent out she told her staff to gender the warning before it can be send. Also it is correct that only a few people had the warning app installed, but here in Germany every village should I theory be equipped with an alarm siren, but many of those don’t work because they lacked proper maintenance for many years.

Right after the desaster, there was an incredible show of solidarity - first to arrive were the farmers and their equipment helped to clear the roads - even bevor the official desaster Intervention organisations. Then came the people ... bus and truck drivers, craftsmen, students, pupils, house wifes, ordinary people of every kind came from all over germany and helped for months for free. Absolutly incredible - still got tears in my eyes remembering it. Edit: The farmers fast and well organiced reactions and their uncounted hours of work in the Ahr valley are one little detail why they had so much support in the recent demonstrations - we can't never ever repay them for their assistance - but we will never forget it

@avissilber5694

26 күн бұрын

Also some hardware stores (Obi etc) gave out tools to the helpers for free (shovels, buckets, hammers etc)

@Why-D

25 күн бұрын

@JOKERLE21 the solidarity was amazing, from starting the next day and keeping onwards for months.

Right now, as we're watching this, Germany suffers again from rain-caused-floods..though at this point not nearly as bad as 2021

@MichaEl-rh1kv

26 күн бұрын

The authorities and rescue services are also far better organized than 3 years before.

@LeksDee

26 күн бұрын

And 2023 we had a storm flood in Schleswig-Holstein and then in early 2024 in Hamburg/Bremen/Lower Saxony both with many people losing their homes or atleast large parts of it, farmers losing their animals etc. Atleast the coastal regions are somewhat more prepared usually (Hamburg with flood gates in many places, some coastal towns have completely flood proof walls and windows etc) But hey, we still have many people claiming it's "just the weather" and climate change is all a lie, so i guess we can just wait to be "surprised" by the next big floods.

@CJO-no1

26 күн бұрын

Yes because the current government isn't as incompetent as the one we had for 15 years straight... Oh and they didn't go there and lough at people suffering.

@nikkimit2k

26 күн бұрын

@@LeksDeeund in Dresden und an der Oder!

@Kjartan1975

26 күн бұрын

@@LeksDee Although there are weeks of dry weather now in Hannover region, I see some tiny spots where you see water from flooding which wouldn't be normally there. And this after 4 months...insane.

its not nothern its in the west. if you look at a map of just the region it doesnt rly show you the place in germany xD

"Someone must have seen that comming." They did. They warned, but those that should have told the people rather saved their porsche or went on holidays...

@Anthyrion

26 күн бұрын

Or they argued about who is in charge for what instead of doing something

@reginaromer6997

21 күн бұрын

That is why you should listen to weather reports and not make fun of the warnings, like some people do! The same people, who call it "panic " all the time!

This was a terrible night. Im a paramedic in ahrweiler and i am a volunteer member of the red cross. The night of the flooding I was with the Desaster protection unit. A small unit building an emergency shelter for the evacuated. We treated many critical patients and looked after round about 400 people without communication due to being surrounded by water ourselves. It was scary hearing the storys about missing family members and lost property, knowing your own whole family lives in the area. People are still traumatized and the damages are far from being repaired

@wernergobl7126

25 күн бұрын

Danke für Deinen Einsatz ❤

@p-reitz

25 күн бұрын

Die schlimmste Nacht meines Lebens

@wat-ched

20 күн бұрын

Zum Glück brach die eine Talsperre bei Euskirchen nicht sonst wären wohl viele der Evakuierten in einer Sporthalle umgekommen.

@p-reitz

20 күн бұрын

@@wat-ched existieren tut die steinbachtalsperre aktuell trotzdem nicht mehr

@CavHDeu

19 күн бұрын

​@@p-reitzwurde das Wasser abgelassen?

For more detail i can recommend you a Documentery from public television station WDR named: Flutkatastrophe 2021: Ein Unwetter, das unterschätzt wurde | Heimatflimmern | WDR which shows how everything develops (with relative good automatic subtitles)

I heard a story about a women, she was 19, if I remember correct, who was in the volunteer fire department. They tried to evacuate people from a flooded campsite, but they couldn't evacuate a elder women, so she stayed with her. Both drowned. Still gets me chills thinking about this...

Dear Ryan, thank you for this more serious reaction. I live near Ahrweiler, though I was lucky, people I know lost their homes due to that flood. One thing I will never forget is the Tragedy that took place in a care home for people with disabilities that Night, 12 helpless people lost their lives because they had no chance to flee to higher levels on their own and their caretaker could net help them all at once... I work in that field myself and I had some lonely Nightshifts where I thought of that poor people that died in their beds and of that poor caretaker and what they must have felt that night. In my heart they are never forgotten and I hope that such a tragedy never happens again.

@modolo9930

25 күн бұрын

This is so sad 😥

@X25_Networking

17 күн бұрын

Ich habe nach der Flur eine längerer Zeit in Dernau gearbeitet. Diese Erfahrung hat mich als Mensch weiterentwickelt, ich habe eine andere Sicht auf viele Dinge erhalten.

@Shaakti86

15 күн бұрын

I know someone who worked that night in the facility, so I was told something about that particular night. It was even worse than "people dying in their beds". They tried to escape, but couldn´t get out, the waterpressure against the door was rising too high too fast and no one was able to get to them and save them. Instead the staff had to see and hear the punches against the door and screams of dying people. Even if you shouldn´t react to emotional in this job surroundings and death isn´t uncommon, it is something totally different if someone is sick for a long time or you experience sudden horrific deaths by tragedy. After such a thing a small part of your soul is damaged, if you´re lucky you can move on, but you will never forget such a thing.

@AlienCatCreature

15 күн бұрын

@@Shaakti86 Thank you for that insight. I got goosebumps reading your comment, even if I imagined that what actually happened was much more gruesome then what media told us. That poor caretakers! I experienced the death of people I cared and loved for many years myself and even if you are prepared for that day it hurts the same as the death of a friend or a family member does... I can't imagine what they felt. I hope they heal from that trauma one day :( sending love!

I was there with the german Red Cross, as a Volunteer Paramedic... I will remember that day forever because we got alerted on my 25th Birthday, instead of parting i/we build sandbag barricades all day and night long, after 15 Hours i collabsed because of exausting and needed a Rest... the next day i saw in the News that the water just sweped away our whole sandbag line... 15 hours of work for nothing...

@rebelfighter5249

13 күн бұрын

At least you tried. That's not nothing.

How do you repair something like that? Throw away all furniture from the 1st and 2nd floors. Try to get the mud out of the house before it hardens. Return all walls to their shell condition. The heating, water pipes and power lines all have to be removed. Some of the ceilings need to be replaced. And then everything starts all over again: re-laying water pipes, electricity and heating. The walls can only be closed when they dry. Then plaster and decorate the wall. Buy the entire interior new. Then all that's left is to pray that there won't be another flood.

4:52 Yes, entire houses have floated away. This may be an advantage because they are so sturdily built, but it can also be a disadvantage. There are some families who have saved themselves on the roofs of their houses. We know of at least one family or part of a family that was swept away in the floods and was no longer alive. Some tried to evacuate their cellars or switch off the electricity, but because the water came down from the mountains so quickly, many drowned in their cellars, underground car parks and other rooms. Some houses had to be demolished after the floods for safety reasons because they could no longer guarantee stability. 7:50 Half of Germany and half of Europe was in Germany. Many volunteers helped there for weeks and months. Unpaid. Some of the local residents or helpers themselves organised food stations for the groups of helpers. There was even a camp where many people could gather to eat, spend the night if necessary, or procure spare parts for chisels, drills, shovels, buckets and everything else that was needed. Self-employed builders, contractors, excavator drivers, farmers, THW, the Red Cross, soldiers, the fire brigade and others with heavy equipment or specialist knowledge painstakingly cleared out every house from the cellar to the edge of the flood, chiselling walls and tearing out floors.

😔The threat of flooding was totally underestimated. Heavy rain and light flooding were expected, but not what happened. Sirens did not work because the water had already destroyed their electrics and the fire department was still advising people to stay in their homes and keep windows and doors closed via loudspeaker announcements that evening. So many people felt safe in their homes when the flood came in the middle of the night and trapped people in their homes. Hence the high number of deaths.

@HenryLoenwind

26 күн бұрын

Exactly. People, at worst, expected a typical flood of rising water that flooded cellars and ground floors. Not one that hit like a hammer and ripped apart buildings. This was more like a landslide than what people in Germany think of when they hear "flood".

@MaryRaine929

26 күн бұрын

@@HenryLoenwind You‘re absolutely right on that.

@p-reitz

25 күн бұрын

@@HenryLoenwind this is so True. Did not think of it this way before, even if i was there but its totaly right. The water in my village came from the hills and fields that had not been able to collect and drain the Rain into the ground. It was crazy

@wat-ched

20 күн бұрын

Where i had helped to rebuild was 500m away from the ahr and the water was still over 2m high.

even if climate change has definitely made a major contribution, the problem of most floods is due to river straightening, which has caused the natural floodplains to disappear. in many cases, the sealing of the soil also plays a less than beneficial role. in the case of the ahr valley, the incompetence of the local authorities in dealing with the warning systems should also not be ignored, which could have prevented some deaths

Back then I was still a student. I was part of a voluntary working group led by a teacher. We've helped families rebuild their home. Some people told us they saw parts of their family being torn away into the river. Days and even weeks after the events you could find arms and legs on bridges and in rivers.

@Kath-Erina

26 күн бұрын

Oh wow i had no Idea, that Sounds incredibly terrible on top of allvthe loss and destruction having to cope with random Body parts seems very hard. It must have even so bad for everyone experienceing and even Wiese for the people losing family and friends...

Actually, Germany experiences quite many tornadoes and minor earthquakes, but those are not as big and extreme as in the US, and the earthquakes are usually so subtle you don't even notive

I remember it was in the middle of the night. Streets empty. And suddenly the air sirens went off and echoed through my City (Wuppertal). At this moment we had no idea what was going on. Afterwords it turned out the water retention dam a few kilometer away was in danger of overflowing.

We had also a serious flood in Belgium, French part of the country. The government is still cleaning up the damage of it today, it was terrible.

@semiramisubw4864

26 күн бұрын

atleast your gov does something. Here its just.. well nothing i guess. Most of the money never arrived and the whole stuff is forgotten already

@postaldude255

26 күн бұрын

@@semiramisubw4864 yes, that's so messed up and wrong. Any government should take care of its people, especially in case of natural Desaster.

@semiramisubw4864

26 күн бұрын

@@postaldude255 our goverment takes cares for everyone, just not the people in our country and that is going on for over a decade already.

@chrizz5982

25 күн бұрын

Government is cleaning up nothing! They are paying people with some of the tax money they stole to do so.

@marcovtjev

25 күн бұрын

Some of that extended across the border into the Netherlands , especially Valkenburg (Maas tributary the Geul) was hard hit due to its hilly terrain and was directly hit by the rains. Beyond the very south of the Netherlands the probably was mainly high water levels, the entire Maas (and tributaries like the Roer) basin was on high alert, and the Flemish part of Belgium (Liege adjacent areas south of Hasselt, and Maaseik further downstream) also had serious problems. IIRC Maaseik the wall/dam eventually held, but it was a close call. Less or no casualties than in more hilly areas of Wallonia and Germany, but quite some property damage and almost catastrophes. In Venlo a hospital was evacuated. Valkenburg was hardest hit, and alone had Eur 400 million damage. Because it was a summer flood, a lot of touristy attractions and campings were deployed in the Maas floodplane, causing damage that wouldn't happen in the annual winter floods. (the previous Maas summer flood was in 1980). The further downstream however, the more time to prepare, and the flood peak gets lower but wider(longer).

The middle of germany experiences up to 60 tornadoes each year. But usually only over open fields. But I remember a few hitting towns

Many houses that survived needed to be demolished in the end, because of all the oil of the central heating systems went into the walls and contaminated everything...

@wat-ched

20 күн бұрын

It wasn't just oil. Chemicals, feces etc.

Im from Saarland. We just had 4 days ago major floodings in the hole region. Its just incredible how destructive weather can be!

I was watching cars and some people floating down the street from my balcony. It was surreal and I didn't fully comprehend it at the time that some of them wouldn't make it. I also didn't think about getting away from my balcony in case it collapsed like the whole wall on a house further up the street.

As far as I rember, the worst case was were a retirement home and a home with disabled people has been flooded, and killed the people in their beds.

@wat-ched

20 күн бұрын

That was in Euskirchen

@MissChica86

20 күн бұрын

@@wat-ched No was not, Sinzig

@CavHDeu

19 күн бұрын

​@MissChica86 in Euskirchen was also flood from Erft and Eisbach

@MissChica86

19 күн бұрын

@@CavHDeu i know that, I am from Germany!

I live very close to the Ahrtal. Three of my work colleagues were directly affected by the flooding. The area is still not completely recovered.

Similar flooding just ocurred a few days ago in Saarland. Although, this time, the warning beforehand had been better. But as soon as tons of waters come rushing towards you, your property, your belongings, there's not overly much you can do. But it was severe, too, and one could see people using jet-skis to hurry down a town's overflooded main road.

My husband and I moved there to help. We used to live 280 miles away. It looked like after war. Now a lot is build up again. But you still can see damage elsewhere. Many people drowned in there basement when they wanted to save their belongings.

@t.a.yeah.

24 күн бұрын

And it doesn't even has to be much water to drown in the basement. Electricity or a few centimeters, so you can't open the door anymore, are enough to kill people..

what a great timing - we get floodings since last week again - but not nearly as unprepared and less water than '21 - same regions :)

Hi Ryan, I live in Trier-Ehrang, we were hit with the flood (14-15.08.2021) too.The creek Kyll went from 0.7 m (2.3 feet) to 8 m (26.2 feet). We were evacuated at approximately 9 am. The interesting thing was, that my sister in Kiel approximately 560 km (348 miles) away from us informed me first.We we evacuated for 6 day's and still today not everything is repaired.

In line with this, you should check out the THW (Federal Agency for Technical Relief). It is an agency mostly based on voluntary members who are trained to support the Firefighters in case of an catastrophy or crisis.

@starstencahl8985

26 күн бұрын

Yeah and on a little positive note, the flood made a lot of people join the THW and similar institutions to help when things like this happen again

The reason those houses collapsed was that small creeks in the vicinity swole up to an unbelievable size and moved / tore away the soil upon which the houses were standing, thereby destabilizing (parts of) the houses' fundaments, ultimately ending in collapsing structures. It was really horrible!

So many people died because they did not take the warnings seriously. They were warned days ahead of heavy rains coming in. Their cellphones did warn them too before the flood arrived. They just did not expect it to be so serious.

Even in southern Germany, we had polar lights,but that's solely because of sun activity.

@pok81

26 күн бұрын

I think sun activity is a myth! 😄

@eaglevision993

25 күн бұрын

Exactly, we had it in Heidelberg too. But I slept though it and did not see it. Must have been nice.

1:57 well the problem about that can be that you arent used to a flood .. makes it a lot more deadly ..

"It's not like...." We have it all. Just not as extreme, as your named locations

@Roberternst72

26 күн бұрын

Getting there, getting there…

Well there wer people who said this would happen but they were rediculed. And since it would be expensive to do sth to prevent this and there were no evidence this would happen so soon, they did nothing. Up until now there are still people who didnt receive the promised help.

"It's not like here in Indiana... tornados" is funny to hear given that Germany is basically Europe's tornado alley with ~50 per year. But at least lacking the wide empty spaces of the US those are usually smaller ones.

Thank you for showing interest in such things that are difficult and hard to understand. Unfortunately, there were increasingly large natural disasters here in Germany. Just 2 examples: 1. Snow disaster 1978/1979 was a weather event with snowstorms and snowfalls of exceptional magnitude combined with unusually low temperatures in northern, central and eastern Germany as well as in neighboring areas such as Denmark, southern Sweden (Skåne) and northern Poland. After it began at the turn of the year 1978/1979, a second event in February 1979 also led to severe disabilities in large areas of northern Germany. Such a weather situation is very unusual for northern Germany. The snowstorm at the turn of the year was described as a disaster. 17 people died in Germany. Many people we're stuck in their cars and houses for days! --- 2. The 1962 storm surge was a flood disaster on the German North Sea coast on the night of February 16th to 17th, 1962. Flooding after the storm surge in Hamburg, February 19, 1962 High, previously unobserved water levels were reached on the lower reaches of the Elbe and Weser as well as their tributaries, which were still unsecured at the time. A total of 340 people died. Hamburg was hit particularly hard, even though the city center is about 90km (!) away from the North Sea coast. The river Elbe simply overflowed its banks everywhere and dikes broke during the night. People drowned in their beds... For Sure you will find some documentations here on YT about these 2 heavy desasters. Greetings from northern Germany ♥️ 🇩🇪

And the saddest thing about this event was that our politicians were informed that there would be a flood disaster and, yet they did not warn the people in this region. What's more, the people who lost everything there still receive almost no state support to this day. Thank you, for sharing this to the world! ❤️

One of the biggest problems with this flood was also, that people had build their houses in areas, which were known in the past to be flooded. So no insurance wanted to cover flood damages and the people had mostly cover the damages by themselfs. It also didn't helped, that some of the authorities were either in holiday or argued about, who is in charge at this time. Some of them even lied about the fact, that there weren't warning signals given

@Patschenkino

26 күн бұрын

👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

@MiaMerkur

24 күн бұрын

But that is stupid. Even as I am living in a rent, I check the history of the area before, the water levels, the hospials, fire appartment, police station ... History can teach you worthful lessons and you should not ignore them.

@Anthyrion

24 күн бұрын

​@@MiaMerkur Of course it is stupid. But that didn't held the people from setteling in flood areas, because there wasn't any fllood in decades

The company I work for made an "Ahrtal-Care-Team". We were there nearly 24 hours after the flood. Everything was organized pretty fast (for a company that size). If I'm not wrong we sent out 250 transporters. It was great to see so many people help out totally strangers but I will never forget what I saw there, it was so sad. On the other hand lots of helpers blamed the politics for doing nothing. Ahrtal flood is a perfect example for civil courage and political failure. You need to dive deeper into this topic, it's crazy.

Look up the video "Flut Juli 2021 Bad Münstereifel". These is a impressiv one with a time stamp about the rising water in minutes

@ClaudiaErnst

26 күн бұрын

Btw we had more floods because water knows no borders e.h. Oder flood 1997, Elbe flood especially 2002 not only Germany, snow chaos in 2010, winter chaos in 1977/78, regular forest fire (last year one quiet close to Berlin), tornados (video "Tornados in Germany") aso

This is not the worst flood in Europe’s history. I can only speak from my knowledge of the Netherlands, but in 1953 over 2000 people lost their lives here. And in the centuries before the numbers run in the thousands caused by flooding of areas close to the North Sea and Zuiderzee.

@Roberternst72

26 күн бұрын

Well, it was the worst one inland, *by size of the flooded area by rain in relation to the normal riverbeds*, without a contributing factor of the North Sea breaking through dykes… especially if you also include the affected areas in Belgium, iirc Luxembourg, France and the Netherlands and don’t just focus on the Ahr valley.

@hypatian9093

26 күн бұрын

1962 in Northern Germany, especially Hamburg. In some districts of Hamburg, many people lived in converted allotment houses due to the post-war housing shortage and the war damage to the dykes had only been repaired in a makeshift manner. 350 deaths may not be many compared to the great Mandrenken of the Middle Ages and flooding in other parts of the world in recent decades, but it is (probably also due to the television broadcasts) THE flood that Germans think of. As a child, I experienced the Capella storm at the beginning of 1976. How the water rose higher and higher on the dyke (we had a flat in a house directly behind the dyke and could see it through the window). As a child, it was more exciting than dangerous for me. But then the power went out, the dyke broke at one of the köge and my parents decided to drive inland to my mother's family. I started to the dangers by the time they left so hastily and had to crawl over the street to our car.

as someone who actually lives in the area that was heavily flooded in 21 - let me tell you, kids are still traumatized and afraid of the small river flowing through our small town. We still have houses that are uninhabitable. Right after the floo we were not allowed tp use red garbage sacks, since they were used t make corpses (that got stuck under birdges). Most sad scene for me was the car with the father and two little boys. We worked in and for our village - all te village groups came together we cooked lunches for the whole village. I did a lot of conselling for kids - since help was like hard to come by at the begining. It was incredible how many people from all over Germany came to help us for days. So grateful and made a lot of new and great friends. So this year we went to help over lent. Friens of ours had their whole house under water - luckily for them, they are back in. Also other frineds who live next to our small river (who actually has an overflow of 4 meters) had to vacte through the back in a boat (the kids loved it and were very excited). A close frined died, she was trying to rescue her dog and was hit by the wave. We only found her days later, drowned. So there is still a LOT of trauma in the areas.

Title from CBS is a bit clickbaity. Certainly not the worst Flood in Europe's history. What immediately comes to mind is "Saint Marcellus's flood" in 1362 that killed 25.000 ppl or more in Europe, 10.000 just in Northern Friesland in Germany and completely and permanently reshaped the coastline, especially of Germany. With a lot farmland and villages being lost to the flood and places turned into Islands. Like many of the, Halligen Islands, that used be farms near the coast and now all of a sudden were tiny islands. Many still are inhabited and the people have defended their homes against the sea for centuries. Well worth watching videos about the Halligen actually. But back to my original point. Just for Germany, the Flood of 1962 in Hamburg was worse as well and there is probably many more, especially when widen the focus to all of Europe.

It was not as bad as that, but Saarland (West) had a flood on Sunday and it was bad enough for a friend to be called from a city some hundred kilometers away cause he is in the THW (Federal Agency for Technical Reliefe) and it is nit like there wouldn't be many groups. This morning I found news about a flouding in South Bavaria (South East) and warnings of heavy rainfalls moving north. This is the increase in extreme weather events climate science tries to warn about. And it is the same with the increasing frequency and size of wildfires during the last decades

This flood disaster was triggered by massive rainfall in a very short space of time. The culprit was a low pressure area that moved from the east to western Germany like a drop of cold air on the humid summer air. Low pressure areas that suck in warm, humid air from the southeast in midsummer can produce a lot of rain in a very short space of time in Central Europe. The disaster affected the federal states of Rhineland-Palatinate (Ahr valley) and the adjacent region of North Rhine-Westphalia. In RLP alone there were >100 deaths, but there were also many deaths in North Rhine-Westphalia. The Ahr is a river in a very narrow valley in a low mountain range, the Eifel. As a result, the gigantic masses of water could not spread over the area, but instead flowed through the narrow and densely built-up Ahr valley. Because people built their houses very close to the river, there was also a lot of damage. Unfortunately, people don't learn from it and rebuild everything there again - until the next flood disaster. In the same year, a few weeks earlier, there were also gigantic amounts of rain in other regions of Germany. In the northeast of Brandenburg (Uckermark district), up to 250 liters of rain per square meter (or 250 millimeters) fell within 24 hours at the end of June and beginning of July. That's a multiple of the amount of rain that otherwise falls in the Uckermark throughout July - in just 24 hours. The months of June and July are the months with the most precipitation on a long-term average. The small rivers, streams and ditches were full. Maybe a few cellars were full. But nothing else happened there. Most of this gigantic amount of rain simply seeped into the landscape. The reason is also simple: the northeast of Brandenburg is a light hilly landscape of ground and terminal moraines with many lakes, which was shaped by the last ice age. The soil is made of sand. The water seeps away there very quickly. Because of the severe drought, the rain drained away even faster.

@chuuei1729

25 күн бұрын

I'm so surprised you mentioned your last fact. Being from the Uckermark myself, i knew about it but because of (thankfully) nothing spectecular happening despite it being so much rain, it barely got any news coverage.

@rosemiller417

25 күн бұрын

We still have to learn to give Our Waters the Space to flow again. Ahrtal is a good Example as it's an old Flood Delta. It fills up rarely enough to fit Generations in between wich means it got/gets forgotten. Renaturing and Liberating Sections of heavily restrained Rivers can help lessen Flooding. Here in the North we have Areas used for Farmland and Procreation mainly in Front of our main Dikes wich can Flood. Sometimes smaller Dikes can be opened to flood unpupulated Areas too, as Pressure Relief. The whole Flood Prevention System is super interesting and complex.

I remember this disaster. The fire rescue from half Germany went to the Ahrtal. My mates were there for like 3 days.

Oh. In 1.31 it´s me sitting on the curb at the left side. This is a scene from the town of Schuld in the Ahr Valley. We were clearing out the garage, basement and ground floor of a family apartment there, removing mud and oil. In the open area in front of which there are rubble, there were previously houses that were completely destroyed and washed away. Recovery vehicles later cleared this area and the THW (Technical Relief Agency) set up a water treatment plant there a few days later.

Oh wow. I never expected you to see something/a fragment of my personal life. We experienced this flood and lost my little sister. There’s so much we’ll never forget… the people we lost, the horror, the pictures, the smell… but also all the people that came from all over Germany to help us in this difficult situation after the tragedy.

My Home-Region was hit very badly. My family got lucky in terms of surviving. Me, my Mom & Stepdad Luckily, we live on a hill that the water can't reach. And the rest of my family barely escaped with their lives. Even though it was very close a few times because the part of town where most of them live was hit by a big tidal wave. My aunt was walking through that street 2 minutes before the wave reached it. The next day the whole street was clogged with cars and other debris. The family members from there sent us pictures and some time later two or three bodies were found and recovered from under the pile of rubble in front of the house. A 15 minute Car ride to my Grandparents turned into a 2 hour car ride for a while, because the detour and the traffic jams were so extensive. Despite all that i still love my howetown und wouldn't wanna move out to a bigger City like Bonn or Cologne. My aunt who is a Winemaker actually appeared on the Thumbnail from a WDR Aktuell Reportage about the flood, where she wore a yellow raincoat.

In addition, a big problem after the flood was that the sludge was very contaminated with e.g. oil and other chemicals.

It's always strange that people get surprised that there is a flood after they build their houses in a known flood area. I have seen a knee-deep "river" 2m wide turn into something more than a meter deep, 20m (smallest part) wide stream that was as fast as I could run the 400m. People underestimate the force of nature, as they still do with climate change. 2.5°C average? That is not much! - The last time we had glaciers here in the middle of Germany was just 2°C colder. And the "Little Ice Age" was only about half of that.

My Friends and I drove 2 hours to a village in the Ahrtal to help and what we witnessed was crazy. I‘ve Never seen something like that before. The Fire Departement organised the whole clean up, so me and my Friends ended up shoveling mud out of the small local Bank for the whole day, almost 2 storeys full of mud, it was surreal. The locals lost almost everything, but Most of them were very resilient. The whole village worked hand in hand, everybody was helping eachother and the vibe was almost kind of a serenity. In the the evening everybody came together at the Firestation for a Bratwurst and a few Beers and i remember how impressed i was of the way these people handle this whole situation and how they stand together in tragedy.

2:36 The map you're looking at is the one of Rheinland-Pfalz, not Germany as a whole. It's in southwestern Germany bordering France in the south and Belgium and Luxembourg in the west. The only federal state west of it is the Saarland which received heavy rain just last week. Luckily not as heavy as the river Ahr valley three years ago but they had to cut off electricity in some regions and evacuate people. Same in the Südwestpfalz where I grew up. Luckily all of my family lives on higher grounds nowhere near rivers or lakes and stayed dry. Only my brother-in-law worked in Saarbrücken at the time - he's a money transport driver - and was sitting in traffic for hours after they closed the inner city autobahn due to flooding.

Does the American media not report on such terrible natural disasters in other countries? When there are severe floods in the USA, forest fires in Australia or bad earthquakes in any part of the world, the German news reports on them.

The mud is the worst ... it gets super hard when its dryed .. its like concrete

A true tragedy. It also hit Northern France, Luxembourg, Belgium and South-east Netherlands (Limburg). Most of that water and debris came through our rivers (Netherlands) and it was a mess. I've seen the water rise here at my hometown Hellevoetsluis at The Haringvliet river, dumping it all in The North Sea. It was dark brown of all the mud.

One of my colleagues hails from that region. He called of work the morning after the heavy flood and tried travelling into the region right away, but access wasn't possible mostly because so many bridges and roads had been completely torn away. His sister and their parents still lived there. While his sister and her family were alright, their parents were not. They lived across the street. Both families had already escaped to the upper levels/roofs of their homes and his sister and her family had to watch while the flood completely tore away their parents's home, taking their elderly parents/grandparents with it.

We respondend to this Emegerncy als well from Munich FD about 6H Drive. This day entire Germany won't forget basically everything what had wheels and Emergency Lights responded from all over Germany Netherland Poland Belgium France Austria and Luxembourg

I realized how serious the flooding was, when our Physics teacher didn't show up to class without notice. When we asked the school secretary, they told us, he was saving what he could from his house before it got flooded. A friend's neighbor's bungalow dissapeared completely in the teeny tiny River Sauer which grew into a massive river. Entire villages close to my home town got absolutely devastated. It was pretty crazy.

@HenryLoenwind

26 күн бұрын

False friend warning: A stream is a Bach, not a Strom. Quite the opposite... ;)

@lhering

26 күн бұрын

@@HenryLoenwind ah, dangit. Thanks for letting me know

@lhering

26 күн бұрын

​@@HenryLoenwindkönnte man in dem Zusammenhang "torrent" verwenden?

You should check out some videos on Saarland. There was some flooding a few days ago. Plus some other areas.

Many people in the "Ahrtal" area were killed because they were surprised by the rapidly rising water. They wanted to save stuff from their basements and the flooding was so fast, they didn't get out in time, they just drowned down there... these people were found days later during cleanup time. Also some were washed away from a nearby campground

Man, I just found you start of the week and there are no more videos to watch? Make more content! It's hilarious! As a german, I can just say: keep up your work! Thanks for entertaining me ;D

Although tragic, this was for sure not the worst flood in German history, let alone European history. US news channels are ridiculous.

It happened at night and many people were asleep. Instead of evacuating the people they just were warned: Be careful and prepare yourself that a flood is coming. Those people, living next to a river, expected flooded cellars, but not that a whole first floor would be flooded literally in one single minute. They had no chance. If you wonder why a whole house is swimming, there were huge landslides. Currently we have a new bad flood. As far as I know one person died.

@danielmcbriel1192

23 күн бұрын

Also bei uns ist die Feuerwehr von Haus zu Haus gegangen und hat gewarnt: "Suchen sie höhere Plätze auf." Aber wie in den 70er Jahre Katastrophenfilmen haben viele die Gefahr nicht gesehen. Es wären ein paar Meter Richtung "Festungshügel" / Altstadt gewesen und es wäre niemand ertrunken.

It wasnt only mud,it smells for gas and oil

The region around Ahrweiler is a wine-growing region. An official hiking trail leads through the vineyards and a railway line runs through the towns. You can start in any town, walk up into the vineyards and walk down again in any town along the way. That's why there are so many pubs in the towns. So-called "Straußwirtschaften" usually have their own wines and hang out cornflower bouquets when they have fresh Federweißen (wine that is still fermenting). At least that's how it was before the flood. And now they are fighting every day to get it back to something like it was before. The old houses are definitely gone. And the Ahr, the river that runs through the valley, first has to get new bridges before you can move through these places like before.

I was there that night. My apartment which was pretty near to the "ahr" was totally flooded and everything inside it got destroyed, except the few things i could save. Never been in a more horrible situation and i hope i never will.

Hit my hometown, too. The Ahr valley got hit the hardest and is still not even close of being rebuilt. (2024) It happened at night/early morning around 3-4am. Most towns and bigger cities that got hit hard are located in a valley with bigger rivers. With that amount of rain coming down, not just from the sky but also the masses flowing down into the valleys, the situation got fast very deadly. Especially for the elderly at the lower floors and for those who went into the basement to save their stored belongings.

We in Germany just got a 'proper' tornado in the Harz mountain range, look up the images

hi ryan, what they downt said in the news is that only this flood area extended over 50 km (31 miles) all through the whole valley with floodwaves on some places almost over 12 meter (39ft) and that almost similar flood events occurred in other regions around too!

Half-timbered houses are made of clay and straw between wooden beams. When the water comes, only the wooden frame remains (if anything).

Tornados and Bushfires where raising the last years in DE

At that time it rained very heavily for many hours. Up to 308 liters per square meter of water came down within 21 hours 😢

I live near that area, my hometown was hit with (minor) floods too. We were lucky, our cellar didn't run full, just our garden stood 10cm under water. That's about up my ankles, fyi. The neighbours down the road had their cellars pumped out by the fireworkers and the THW (technic help services). Many people in my school were affected way worse. One girl in my class had her house flooded from down the cellar through the ground floor up towards the 1st floor. Another one knew someone who had to flee up the next hill (they lived in a valley) in the middle of the night cause the water rose so dangerously. They had to evacuate via the balcony and they barely survived. And one girl in my school was one of the deaths, unfortunately. The whole school was really shocked during that time and we collected school stuff for those who lost everything, their books, pens, backpacks and their papers. I remember how I gave some old notes from my pile to a girl in the lower classes who had her working room in the cellar, together with all her school stuff (she already had a family of her own and the cellar was the quietest place). She had to rely on those lent and borrowed and copied notes to study for her mid-exams. Another person from my friend circle lost ALL the possessions of their deceased dad. The dad died just a year before the flood and left behind a huge comic book collection in the basement. It was completely wrecked and my friend was insolable for weeks, no, months. Seeing the anguish of them was horrible to watch. It was all very horrible, and many people in the area are still traumatised today. Always looking up the sky and prepping extremely and extensive if heavier rain than usual is announced.

I was working as an emergency plumbing service at the time and it was really frightening.A day later we were in a pumped out basement that was 2m under water and across the street a children's room fell into the water (no injuries)

Yes, we used to have floods here too. But not as high. And it was mostly snowmelt and not summer storms. When was the last time we had real snow? In my lifetime, the floods on the Ahr after a summer storm only reached the lower leg. And that wasn't the Ahr itself, but the overflowing canal.

In the UK, over 200 farms are underwater. In the U.S. the Midwest has lost many farms and cattle due to record flooding. This is going on all over the world, and it's decimating food production!

The problem was, among other things, hours of heavy rain with up to 200 liters of water per 1 square meter. Towns located in narrow valleys with small rivers flowing through them, such as the towns in the Ahr valley, were particularly affected. But also areas in NRW, which are characterized by a particularly large number of reservoirs. These reservoirs filled up within a few hours due to the immense rainfall. So the sluices had to be opened to release the water. This, together with the persistent heavy rain, led to immense flood waves in otherwise rather small rivers. The towns along the rivers were completely overrun by these masses of water within a very short space of time. Many people did not have time to get to safety or drowned trying to save others. My small home town of Leichlingen (located between Cologne and Düsseldorf) was also flooded because the Wupper - a small river through the Bergisches Land region - rose from a normal flow depth of 50 cm to 420 cm within a few minutes and at the same time other small streams around the town also burst their banks. The flood was so strong that a large statue was swept away by the Wupper through the Rhine all the way to Holland. This was a truly traumatizing experience for the residents of the affected areas.

I think the worst "flooding" was when the britains busted the Möhnetalsperre but that was on purpose.

In unserer kleinen Stadt im Sauerland🌲 ⛰️🌲12000 mit Einwohnern … waren 100 Häuser durch die Flut beschädigt. Ich war froh das meine Versicherungskunden von mir schnell u. umfassend entschädigt werden konnte. Dankbar das im Ort kein Menschenleben zu beklagen war. Leider jedoch in der Nachbarschaft 2 Feuerwehrleute im Dienst. R.I.P.

I was working in insurance at the time, basically the river rose 5-7 meters over the course of 8 hours. There's a couple videos of campers filming and fleeing from the flood, more or less, hey that's cool turning into oh crud we gotta get outta here. And if 5 meter more water does not fill you with dread, imagine a two story house on top of your local river and see what'd be below the roof line.

Was on a nightshift during the heavy rains and flooding when news and videos began to trickle in. Live-footage can be a really frightening thing ... remember lots of it from the 2011 Japan Tsunami, too.

It was really devastating and the worst was that so many deaths could have been prevented if the responsible people had warned everyone. There are actually courts cases going on to hold these people responsible. I can only recommend people who are interested to watch one of the many documentaries about this catastrophe. There are alot of stories how the people died that night. One firefighters tried to save a woman out of a camping van unfortunately both died, there was a nursing home where alot off people died because they couldn't save themselves and there was a family with two kinds who were holding onto two trees for the whole night and sadly the mother and one child lost their strength and died. There was a shortage of helicopters and alot of those that flew that night didn't have the equipment to actually save people, so they could only watch as houses with people on top were swallowed by the water. It was really horrible and I hope that the people who didn't warn the people will be punished because they knew for days and didn't warn, they didnt even warn when they already saw what the water made upstream even though they knew that the water will come, their selfishness and stupidity killed alot off people. Thankfully after this tragedy many people in germany tried to help and now they implement a new warning system so hopefully something like that wont happen against.

I'm from north Germany. Heavy raining is normal here and that's why we have slight floodings most of the times. There were some csses were it turned to a tragedy. If you're interested to Lear more about this topic: there was a (famous) heavy flooting in Hamburg 1962. More than 300 ppl died.

The floods were crazy. So many people lost their homes or their lives. The images you saw aren’t even the worst, there was so much footage in these days. I remember the rain before and during, before I knew what happened I was just chilling on my bed with my balcony door opened, watching it because it was so intense and just wouldn’t stop. We were so shocked when we saw the images of towns and villages only an hour away.

Terrible weeks. I was there for about two weeks as an EMS physician for the red cross, working for scene command, dispatching EMS and a few times even responded as an emergency doctor when I got no more units in the area. I trained for these emergencies - but I thought I will use this training sometime abroad... never imagined I start the car and will arrive in the desaster area in about three hours.

Many old people died at home, because cant move away alone, out of their houses, the warning of people cames to late so no time to help older ones

Could you address the tornado that hit Paderborn and Lippstadt in 2022? Additionally, there have been recent severe floods in southern and southwestern Germany, including areas near France like Saarbrücken, and now also in Wuppertal, which is located in western Germany.

even months later you were able to see a dust cloud above the Ahr valley. And the first time I had to drive to Bad Neuenahr - Ahrweiler overwhelmed me and my family (we had to fetch things from a girlfriend's home back then). And even though it was about one to two months after the flood, we had tears in our eyes, seeing it for real. I can just say, what you saw in those clips wasn't even the tip of the iceberg. Even Pentecost storm Ela (Pfingststurm Ela) wasn't that horrifying, yet also there I wasn't able to get home to Düsseldorf for at least 2 weeks.

I remember this. Even from up north Germany, my home state so to speak, Schleswig Holstein, had some people going down there to help. I remember watching the news each and everyday. Imagine our surprise doing the presidential selection when one of CDU‘s candidate started to laugh while visiting. That’s one of the reasons why SPD‘s candidate became Bundeskanzler. Also, last year doing Germany’s national Eurovision selection, Patty Gurdy participated with a song called „Melodies of hope“. She comes from that region and her song was about the hope her and the people of that region got after the flooding. To hold on tight, to help each other like they used to do. She was a favorite but than another band got selected. We here in Schleswig Holstein had also a big flood going on last year. Of course, not as bad as the one you just watched, but also with bad destruction. A 100 year flood, meaning a flood that was just as bad, if even worse, than 100 years ago. And yes, it was worse. It went into record heights last year and lasted for 3 whole days. A whole camping site was destroyed. Langballigau, which lays right besides the fjord connecting it to the baltic Sea is the place name with the camping site. Even in Denmark, the flood was bad (we are talking about the same flood). Houses as well as beaches where all under water. It was just sad to see it all.

To get an idea how terrible this flood was: You see those half-timbered houses, which are half a millenial old or ever older. For centuries trhey stayed dry, and this flood washed many of them away, overflooding them with a whole floor's height.

the average story height of buildings in germany is 2,50 meters , if it was a 7 meter floodwave its almost 3 stories high

For the wind, you have to look for a "Orkan". For kind of a Tsunami, you look for a "Sturmflut". We also have forest fires and as you saw, floodings. As you said, it is in a valley close to a river. They are used to small floodings, but that day and before there was so much rain and on that day, the clouds did not move. They were aware of a flodding, but did not knew how high. At some point, they wited for the infor of the "Pegel" flood level, but there was no info, as the whole little house with the Pegel was ripped of by the flood, and no one warned them early enough. In some areas, the captains of the voluntary fire brigade themselves started warning by personal responsibilty, as higher authorities did not, what was even a question if they could be sued for "not warning". As the housesd are usually build with stone, and even the half timbered houses could be dried again. As long as the walls are stable, you could fix it. The ones closest to the water, with massive destruction of walls have to be demolished.

That happened very close to my city the news were very scary

This flood was really unbelievable and tragic. The Ahr valley is beautiful, but the river Ahr is quite broad, so I can well imagine it being so devastating. I've been to Ahrweiler many times and it's just heartbreaking. So many people from all over Germany went there to help, but the government hardly did anything, which is absolutely shameful.

The reason why it was so deadly was that it (the flood) came in the night. Much could not excape because sleeping rooms are often upstairs and when they noticed the surrounding was already flooded. Whole houses where taken by the river.

I was there a few days after the flood with my colleagues to help a colleague who lives there and was directly affected. I will never forget the sight of this place in an absolute state of emergency. It was so unreal, like a war zone. Only a few kilometers away the world was still in order, while local people stood in the ruins of their existence, covered in dust and mud, cars piled up on the side of the road. Military vehicles, fire sirens, ambulances and above all the smell of mud mixed with oil and who knows what else. I will never forget that smell, but also how so many people who didn't know each other came together from all Parts of the country to clear rubble and mud from basements and help the residents.

The question why so many people had to die was asked in Germany as well. Well, part of the answer is that teh warning systems only partly worked. First, cell broadcast has only be introducedin Germany as a reaction to precisely this disaster. Second, other warn apps (widespread ones are "Nina" and "Katwarn") have to be installed on your mobile phone voluntarily. Many people haven't done that. Third, some of the people responsible for triggering the alarm underestimated the danger, hence in some towns or regions alarms were sounded too late or not at all. Fourth, the local system of alarm sirens that was mandatory for each town to have until regulations were changed (in the 90ies, I believe?) was removed in many places in order to save maintenance costs. So no sirens in many places either. So basically, all you can do to reach the ones that don't react to or don't have a mobile app, is have police or firebrigade drive through town and use loudspeakers. But in the narrow valley of the Ahr, the flood came fast that night. The soil had already been saturated from rain in the days before. And there was one more problem: The communication among the "Behörden und Organisationen mit Sicherheitsaufgaben" (BOS, agencies and organisations tasked with public safety), like police, THW (Technisches Hilfswerk), fire brigades, Red Cross, DLRG (Deutsche Lebensrettungsgesellschaft, a life guard organisation), and so on. Actuallly, there's a TETRA radio communication system that allows to talk encryptedly, build groups, so that all BOS within a region can talk to each other, etc. BUT: Although this radio system is a federal system and overseen by a federal agency, its implementation in the separate states is done by the states themselves. And Rhineland-Palatinate (the state where most people died) had not been spending overly much for that BOSnet. That means: In many cases they had only the minimum size of emergency batteries at the antenna locations. So after the water had destroyed the power supply, most of the antennas worked for just a few more hours before going dead. Moreover, as data uplink to the next system level they rented fibres from a telco. Those data links were equally destroyed when streets and bridges were swept away. And that's why the center for emergency management in Koblenz didn't have any connection to the emergency units on the spot. Perhaps a few more lifes could have been saved if they had.