Storm surges ripped away sandy beaches on Wangerooge and Borkum in early 2022. The reconstruction is like a Sisyphean task – and is not a long-term solution in view of climate change.
Wangerooge – Storm “Nadia” hissed across the country in February 2022 at over 100 kilometers per hour. In Wangerooge and Borkum, the storm tore whole sandy beaches with it. Shortly thereafter, “Zeynep”, one of the strongest hurricanes of recent decades, hit the North Sea coast, with dire consequences. Storm surges are common there, but due to climate change, they are becoming more frequent – and pose costly problems for the North Sea islands.
Climate change: Danger for North Sea islands like Borkum and Wangerooge
Climate change is a real threat to German North Sea islands such as Borkum and Wangerooge. Due to global warming, poles and sea ice are melting faster. In the 20th century, sea level rose by around 15 centimetres. By the year 2100, the water could even rise by 60 to 110 centimeters if greenhouse gas emissions were not significantly reduced. This emerges from a world climate report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) from 2019. In order to stop this development and achieve the 1.5 degree target, global greenhouse gas emissions would have to decrease before 2025 instead of increasing, concludes the sixth assessment report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which was published in April 2022. So the world only has about 30 months left.
It is not foreseeable that the German islands will disappear in the near future, as the climate expert at the Climate Service Center Germany (GERICS) in Hamburg, Laurens Bouwer, told the Focus said: “No, first of all we have nothing bad to fear”. The islands are now better equipped than ever before – that’s the good news. “The question now is whether and how the islands can afford this in the long term,” Bouwer continued. He is alluding to the rebuilding of the beaches after every storm surge. Because the North Sea islands of Borkum and Wangerooge are already struggling with the consequences of climate change.
Fighting the consequences of climate change: Restoring sandy beaches is expensive
Although storm surges are not uncommon in the North Sea, the frequency of these extreme weather events has increased noticeably recently. “Meanwhile, violent storms are more common,” said Peter Kuechenbuch-Hagen, Council Chairman in Wangerooge. “Up until the 1970s and 1980s we had it every 20 years, now every four to five,” continueskuchenbuch-Hagen. In Wangerooge, around 90 percent of the sand was washed away by the storms in January and February of this year. The result: no more beaches – and therefore no tourism. According to the German Press Agency, around 140,000 tourists visit the small island of Wangerooge alone every year. “We are in the process of restoring the beach,” reported Marcel Fangohr, the mayor of Wangerooge in April 2022 Focus. There was also major damage on Borkum. Not only beaches disappeared, but also the popular Loopdeelenweg, on which you could circle the island completely – and which was only completed in April 2021.
Sand is currently being picked up from the sandbanks in the east of the island with large trucks in order to then fill up the beach, Mayor Fangohr explained to the island of Wangerooge Focus. But that is not a long-term solution, because: “At some point there will be no more sand there either.” They are trying to save sand, but in the long term it will probably not work without so-called rinsing or sand pre-rinsing, which is already happening in Sylt, Norderney and Langeoog come into use. Underwater lines on suction dredgers use this technique to transport the sand from the seabed back to land. However, the costs for this are high.
The Lower Saxony Ministry of the Environment wants to pay for damage to the East Frisian Islands
After the significant loss of sand, the state of Lower Saxony wants to help the affected East Frisian Islands with seven million euros. Prime Minister Stephan Weil and Environment Minister Olaf Lies (both SPD) made this clear in mid-March when they visited the islands of Wangerooge and Langeoog. The Ministry of the Environment wants to spend up to five million euros more on coastal protection alone. In order to support the islands with measures for tourism, such as the filling up of bathing beaches, up to two million should also flow to the island communities. “The islands with their dunes and beaches are a bulwark against the forces of nature and thus a protection of our mainland. And they are of inestimable touristic value for Lower Saxony,” said Weil, according to the announcement (dpa/bm).
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