Germany: Flood-hit areas brace for winter | DW Documentary

these images were filmed last summer when deadly floods hit the r valley in western germany after days of heavy rain the river and its streams burst their banks in july floods swept away numerous homes and devastated entire towns the water came so fast yet the marks left by the flood can still clearly be seen in the region and its residence whenever it rains i almost panicked that another downpour like that could happen niels curtis works for the plumbing and heating company caulk and mies he and his colleagues have had their hands full since the floods right now they are doing what they can to make sure people have heating a small source of comfort in the dark winter days [Music] the company office in altenborg rhineland palatinate was one of the buildings that didn't survive the floods so gurgis and his colleagues have their morning meeting outside you can see the mark left by the water the coch and me's office was pretty much completely flooded between these two windows up here was their company sign after the flood everything was soaked but it was still hanging our two bosses saw that as a sign that giving up wasn't an option off game is like an option more than 130 people died in the r valley floods thousands lost their homes to this day many of the small municipalities along the r river feel like ghost towns osdenborg was almost completely destroyed most of the houses remain inhabitable the ones that people have been able to return to lack proper heating [Music] i need to check with my boss mr shriner we're booked up until late january early february the problem is that it's winter and people are without hating so that's our top priority and we don't have time for minor jobs for months guerrez and his colleagues have only been repairing flood damaged homes all other the cold weather has made the dire situation even more challenging says guerrez i'm doing my job as best i can and i'm trying to help wherever i can but nobody can fix the our valley or no one person anyway it's a huge task that will take months or even years giorges has arrived in bad new where his first client of the day is waiting only the basement was flooded in this house so the tenants still live here but the oil-powered heating system was destroyed for now the only heat comes from a small wood burning stove downstairs this won't heat the whole house you'd have to drill holes through the ceiling to heat up stairs the top floor is cold but we're fine the basement down below is less fine homeowner anse yorkomink explains that the water burst in through the sewage pipes since then it smells of feces the damaged oil tanks have already been removed what a nightmare i've never seen anything like this so everything needs to be replaced everything is broken well another problem to fix next year what i expect in the future is that such extreme weather events will become more frequent with climate change and more intense after screening another house in the region except that this one was completely flooded it's uninhabitable but guert and alfreda gaspar still come to check on things in their former home every day even though it pains them each time i come in and see this it hurts for months they've been using an electric heater to dry out the walls although it's still unclear whether they will ever be able to move back into their house if the walls or foundation are contaminated with heating oil or other pollutants the house will have to be demolished they're waiting for an appraisal that will provide them with answers the couple still hopes their house can be saved but it's hard to remain optimistic when we get through here if it were spring things would probably be better including our mood it gets dark around 5 pm and that gets you depressed even if their house can be saved it will take a long time until the repairs are complete and the gas bears can move back in again you don't know if you can get workers off the companies in the area are overbooked it is on his way to his next client who needs a gas pipe connected to an interim house hundreds of people were left homeless after their houses had to be torn down temporary homes like these are providing short-term solutions is missing from there let me see i need number 28. [Music] in just a few minutes has connected the gas tanks but the house won't get warm without functioning water pipes and these aren't in place yet this house belongs to melina zion she's looking forward to not having to wear a hat and gloves indoors anymore the flood damaged the house that stood there which was my parents home we bought this new one so i have a place to stay with my dog all right i'll let you get on with it see you bye in altenborg alone over 50 buildings were torn down because they were at risk of collapsing or contaminated overall the floods last summer caused some 30 billion euros in damage time to head to the company's warehouse located several kilometers above the valley what's crazy is that you only have to drive a short way and everything is fine none of this happened the heating and plumbing company rented this warehouse after the flood they salvaged what they could from their old office and brought it here anything that got in contact with the flood water can't be used for tap water which you drink you could use this for a heating system but not for tap water another box we saved or rather our boss rescued it it's not worth it to clean screws you can see what happens these brass screws have changed but you can still use them to secure something all these things we saved what we could forget the team here faces another problem global supply chain shortages resulting from the coronavirus pandemic at the moment we're taking it one day at a time we see which projects we can take on which emergencies pop up and what can we finish but right now in terms of materials everybody in germany and internationally knows that our supply chain shortages next job is in a former hotel hello like in almost every building in the r valley the hotel's heating system didn't survive the flood but there's no one at the construction site i hate this if there's no one here we can't help has only been told that there is something wrong with the mobile heating system this is one option to protect houses from frost damage i'm not sure how many of these mobile heaters are now being used in the r valley but i'd say quite a few hi did we speak on the phone mr lustig has a look inside and quickly spots the problem there's an error message that's normal it's run out of oil an external oil tank needs to be connected to refill the system tells the workers what to do and takes off if you run into problems let me know i'll see you later next week take care ciao what brings guru's peace of mind is when a permanent heating system is up and running the boys have been busy the furnace has been installed all that's needed is a connecting element and we're done installing an entire heating system can take two full weeks and with a huge demand in the r valley grocers and his colleagues can hardly keep up many people will have to live in unheated homes for several more weeks hendrick tim is one of the few flood victims with enough know-how to repair his own heating the car mechanic asked the experts for advice and then did the work himself but i also don't know when this would be ready if i had to rely on others meanwhile the our river is flowing peacefully through the valley again but the havoc had wreaked in july will take a long time to fix it you have a nice view from up here you can see alton ah below and the river curving around they're still finding wrecked cars there [Music] my home region has been destroyed but it will recover eventually [Music] you

Channel: DW Documentary

Views: 63,261

Keywords: Documentary, Documentaries, documentaries, DW documentary, full documentary, DW, documentary 2021, Ahr valley, flood disaster, Germany, flood victims, destruction, reconstruction, floods Germany, Ahr Valley, flooding, Altenburg, heating, winter, Nils Görres

Id: _hpYBBiE184

Length: 12min 27sec (747 seconds)

Published: Mon Dec 20 2021