Mountains of garbage after flood disaster in the district of Ahrweiler District administrator warns of danger of epidemic in Ahr valley
Ahrweiler · The district administrator in the Ahrweiler district, Jürgen Pföhler, warns of the danger of epidemics in the Ahr valley. Polluted water becomes a danger to the health of people in the disaster area.
At a press conference in Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler, the district administrator of the Ahrweiler district, Jürgen Pföhler, also made clear in plain language what the flood disaster means for his region. Pföhler spoke of "war-like conditions" and stated, "There is a danger of epidemics." A prerequisite for defusing the health situation in the affected localities is the removal of waste. Here, we are well on the way to clearing, said Begoña Hermann, the head of the disaster control staff. But she appealed to people not to add to the already existing piles of garbage: "Please wait just a few more days.“
On Saturday, traffic in the Ahr Valley had nearly collapsed. To allow garbage vehicles a clear run, the individual traffic was stopped. "Only if the garbage is removed from the affected areas as quickly as possible, can we restore the infrastructure piece by piece and eliminate possible health hazards caused by garbage dumping," Florian Stadtfeld of the Koblenz police headquarters had explained.
As reported, the supply of drinking water in the Ahr Valley is difficult, the Technical Relief Agency (THW) is doing valuable work with mobile water treatment plants. "Fecal contaminated water" can transmit pathogens and cause serious gastrointestinal diseases as well as hepatitis A, Wiete Schramm, occupational physician at Tüv Rheinland, has said in an SWR interview.
Flood disaster also affected wineries
Like Schramm ("These hygienic things are quite crucial"), the Bonn-based Federal Office of Civil Protection and Disaster Assistance (BBK) also points out precautionary measures: "Contact with the water and mud should be avoided if possible, especially if the skin is no longer intact as a result of an open wound, for example. Wear appropriately protective clothing." After contact with contaminated water or mud, it is recommended to wash the skin well, according to BBK. Contaminated clothing should be put in the washing machine - with a rinse cycle of at least 60 degrees. If that is not possible: dispose of it.
The flood also hit the winegrowing businesses on the Ahr to the core. The sisters Dörte and Maike Näkel from the Meyer-Näkel winery in Dernau, for example, were rescued from the crown of a tree after seven hours of fighting for survival. The 2020 vintage of the winery is lost. Bad experiences were also made by wineries in Mayschoss, Rech and Heimersheim. An idea born out of necessity was to offer rescued bottles for sale. Some wines come to customers dressed in mud. Bottles with flood marks are also sold in supermarkets in Bonn.
The district administration of Ahrweiler has now added a warning notice to the procedure. An appeal via Facebook reads like this: "We have to urge you to stop shipping the (muddy) wine bottles for now." The sludge could be contaminated and is currently being examined.
(Original text: Dietmar Kanthak, Translation: Mareike Graepel)
