Residents in shocked sorrow as massive rubbish pile of discarded belongings builds up

Record ID: 1627544

  • Title: Residents in shocked sorrow as massive rubbish pile of discarded belongings builds up
  • Date: 19th July 2021
  • Summary: BEI RHEINBACH, GERMANY (JULY 19, 2021) (REUTERS) YOUNG PEOPLE UNLOADING FLOOD-DAMAGED DEBRIS ONTO RUBBISH PILE DIGGER MOVING RUBBISH / RUBBISH BEING OFF-LOADED VARIOUS OF WET AND WATER-DAMAGED ITEMS BEING THROWN ON RUBBISH HEAP (SOUNDBITE) (German) LOCAL, BERND LUECKENBACH, SAYING: "It's just unimaginable, I mean these are just things but we know many people who have been much worse affected. But each object here had somebody's memories in it, so it is affecting me, yes!" (SOUNDBITE) (German) LOCAL, RALF VON DER MARK, SAYING: "How do we see this! It hurts! When I look at this big pile I get teary. I don't know! What's going to happen to it all!" (SOUNDBITE) (German) UNNAMED YOUNG WOMEN IN TRUCK, SAYING: "It's pretty shocking!" "It's really moving, as we know all the people that have been affected." "And just the amount of stuff that is being thrown away which people had kept for one reason or another and now have had to get rid of it." DIGGER MOVING RUBBISH WITH GRAB BUCKET CARS ARRIVING WITH MORE RUBBISH DIGGER MOVING RUBBISH WITH GRAB CLAW VEHICLE TIPPING RUBBISH OUT VARIOUS OF RUBBISH PILE CONSISTING ENTIRELY OF FLOOD-DAMAGED BELONGINGS TRACTOR SHOVELLING RUBBISH ONTO PILE
  • Embargoed: 2nd August 2021 13:17
  • Keywords: Flut Germany Hochwasser Rheinbach Ueberschwemmung clear-up flooding natural disaster rubbish
  • Location: BEI RHEINBACH, GERMANY
  • City: BEI RHEINBACH, GERMANY
  • Country: Germany
  • Topics: Disaster/Accidents,Europe,Floods,Editors' Choice
  • Reuters ID: LVA001EMIAMVB
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Residents looked on in a mixture of amazement and sorrow as a huge rubbish pile of flood-damaged belongings continued to grow on the outskirts of the North Rhine-Westphalian town of Rheinbach on Monday (July 19), one of the towns hit by Germany's catastrophic flooding.
    Locals have been arriving in a steady stream since Friday afternoon, tipping trailers and truck loads of rubbish onto the pile that was being pushed into a heap by local tractors.
    "It's just unimaginable, I mean these are just things but we know many people who have been much worse affected and each object here had somebody's memories in it, so it is affecting me, yes!" said one local, Bernd Lueckenbach.
    "How do we see this! It hurts! When I look at this big pile I get teary. I don't know! What's going to happen to it all!" said Ralf von der Mark.
    German interior minister Horst Seehofer rejected criticism the government had failed to sufficiently warn people of last week's floods, as the death toll from the country's worst natural disaster in almost six decades rose above 160 people.
    In the Ahrweiler district south of Cologne at least 117 people have been killed, and that number is expected to rise as the clear-up reveals more victims. The high death toll has raised questions around why so many people seemed to have been surprised by the flash flooding.
    Flooding has devastated parts of Western Europe since last Wednesday, with the German states of Rhineland Palatinate and North Rhine-Westphalia, as well as parts of Belgium, among the places worst-hit.
    Entire communities were cut off without power or communications. Residents were trapped in their homes by flash floods and a number of houses collapsed, leaving what German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Sunday described as "terrifying" scenes.
    The DWD weather service had warned on Monday last week that heavy rain was heading to western Germany and that flooding was very likely. On Wednesday morning it said on Twitter that the risk of flooding was increasing and called on the population to seek guidance from local authorities.
    The German government is readying a relief package for hard-hit communities in North Rhine-Westphalia and Rhineland-Palatinate, and also in Bavaria and Saxony, where there were fresh floods over the weekend.
    (Production: Andi Kranz, Tanya Wood)
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2021. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
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