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The German flood warning system leaves it up to local authorities to decide what action to take, according to the theory they have the best knowledge of the local terrain and which people or property are in the path of an overflowing river.
In some cases, it is seen that the warnings are made in a timely manner. In the city of Wuppertal, located in a valley bisected by the Wupper River, a crisis committee, including police, firefighters and city officials, used social media to urge people to stay at home.
Earlier on Thursday, shortly after midnight, World War II was launched to warn residents to ascend to higher floors or evacuate as the waters rise.
City spokeswoman Martina Eckermann said Wuppertal’s local opera house suffered property damage, such as flooding, in the orchestra pit, but no casualties.
But elsewhere the warnings came too late.
In the Ahrweiler district of neighboring Rhineland-Palatinate, district officials issued the first warnings to residents living on the riverbanks as they approached the record level of 3 meters, or about 10 feet. Three hours later, a state of emergency was declared as the waters exceeded the previous flood record.
By then, many people had fled to the upper floors of their homes, but people who couldn’t move quickly enough, such as 12 disabled people who were not warned in time, died in a nursing home in Sinzig. -floor rooms before the waters rise.
“Warnings have come,” said Mr Kirsche of the German Air Service. “But the question is, why didn’t the evictions happen sooner? That’s something we need to think about.”
Melissa Eddy from Berlin, Jack Ewing from Frankfurt, Megan Specia from London and Steven Erlanger from Müsch, Germany.
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