Düsseldorf (dpa) – Almost two weeks after the flood disaster began in the west, North Rhine-Westphalia’s Interior Minister Herbert Reul (CDU) underlined the responsibility of the municipalities for protective measures. The cities and districts would have to evaluate reports from the German Weather Service (DWD), said Reul on Wednesday in a special meeting of the interior committee in the Düsseldorf state parliament. It will be decided on site what to do. “And I think that is the right thing to do,” emphasized the minister.
On July 12, the DWD published the first “advance information on severe weather”. The next day a so-called state situation was set up. “That means that the number of deployments and the number of personnel deployed are listed in the” Danger Defense “digital information system,” explained Reul. “This is crucial because the main areas of action can be derived from it and you can see where supra-local help is needed.”
On July 14th, the coordination group of the crisis team of the state government was activated at his ministry level. “That means that almost 20 people sit together to deal with the crisis – experts from my company, experts from other departments.” Representatives of the Federal Police and the Bundeswehr joined them later.
A concrete review is still pending, said Reul. If 47 people had lost their lives in the storm, it was clear that not everything could have gone right. But rushed shots wouldn’t do anything either, said Reul. “To say now what can be done better would be presumptuous. Many missions are still running, the situation is still too fresh.”
But he has been trying for a long time to force the issue of siren warnings, underlined the interior minister. There are currently 5,184 sirens nationwide in NRW – 854 more than in 2018. “Only: What use are sirens if they are not triggered by the municipalities?” Many citizens do not even know what to do after the alarm.
It could be wise to consider whether the DWD, as the official federal authority, should have direct access to radio in the future, said Reul. Then there would be no dependency on what broadcasters decided at their own discretion. “That makes sense because the DWD is also the originator of these warnings.”
The storm disaster in Rhineland-Palatinate and North Rhine-Westphalia had killed at least 179 people in the week before last – 47 of them in North Rhine-Westphalia.
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210728-99-576467 / 3
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