Et is an image that has often annoyed Interior Minister Roger Lewentz. It shows him alongside District Administrator Jürgen Pföhler during a visit to the crisis management team in Ahrweiler on the evening of July 14. Shortly before a night in which 134 people died in the flood in the Ahr valley. At 7.20 p.m. Lewentz arrives at the district office, Pföhler welcomes him, the two of them go briefly to the operations center, where the photo is taken. Lewentz perceives the work of the operations center as concentrated and calm, as he later says. Pföhler describes the situation in the district, which seems to be easing at this point. At 7.45 p.m., after 25 minutes in the crisis team, Lewentz makes his way home to monitor the flood situation in the country.
Why hasn’t the interior minister noticed that the district administrator and his crisis management team are so fundamentally wrong in assessing the situation that they only declare a disaster at 11 p.m.? Why did the state government only take over disaster management days after the flood night? In a sixteen-hour meeting of the committee of inquiry into the Ahr flood in the state parliament of Rhineland-Palatinate, Prime Minister Malu Dreyer and Minister Lewentz (both SPD), among others, were questioned on Friday. The picture emerged of a state government that realized only late that many people were fighting for their lives on that night of July 14th and 15th.
The Ahr was more of a side issue
Interior Minister Roger Lewentz calls the police situation center at noon on July 14 to find out about the flood situation in the country. There have been warnings of heavy rain for days. On the fringes of the plenary session, which begins at 2 p.m., Lewentz and Dreyer talk about the flood situation, but without focusing on the Ahr. The volcanic Eifel is causing the authorities more concern at this point. Lewentz announced to Dreyer that he wanted to drive to the flooded area in the evening. After the President of the Supervisory and Service Directorate (ADD), Thomas Linnertz, and the head of the department responsible for civil protection at the ADD, Heinz Wolschendorf, are already on their way to the Vulkaneifel to get an idea there, they recommend Lewentz to visit the Technical operations management in Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler.
Lewentz finds a “functioning crisis management team” there, as he tells the committee. According to Lewentz, he did not know at the time that District Administrator Pföhler was only in the crisis management team for a short time and had handed over the management to an employee years ago. Apparently, the technical and human resources were good. There was no reason for him to doubt the ability of the crisis team. In the days before, the municipal supervisory authority ADD had offered support to all districts, including District Administrator Pföhler. But he refused.
Just wait until night
On his way home at around 8 p.m., Lewentz informed Prime Minister Dreyer about the situation at a meeting in the State Chancellery. Lewentz signals that one has to wait until night to be able to make a better assessment. ADD department head Wolschendorf makes a similar statement. The situation assessments from the districts only arrive in the ADD crisis team with a delay. On site, the volunteers were often overwhelmed, according to Wolschendorf. The authority, which acts as a kind of hinge between the state government and the municipalities responsible for disasters, found it difficult to get an overview.
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