- Dozens of damaged homes and rubbish piles after storm
Severe Storms in North Hesse have affected around 60 homes in the most affected municipality of Trendelburg-Gottsbüren alone. Another 30 homes were affected in the Bad Karlshafen district of Helmarshausen, a spokeswoman for the Landkreis Kassel said on Monday. They estimate the damage to be in the "high millions," but cannot yet provide a more specific figure. The total number of affected homes is also not yet known.
The building inspection has examined the structures, all of which are stable, allowing residents to begin cleanup and repair work. Some homes are still habitable, while in other cases, residents have been taken in by relatives or friends. "The mutual helpfulness is immense," the spokeswoman said.
Over the weekend, around 1,000 helpers were deployed in the region, including disaster protection units from the Landkreise Schwalm-Eder, Werra-Meißner, and Waldeck-Frankenberg, as well as helpers from the Technical Relief Agency and the German Red Cross. Three firefighters were lightly injured during the operations, the spokeswoman said.
In some cases, they had to be called out a second time within a few days - for example, in Wesertal-Gieselwerder, where a bridge had to be demolished because a culvert was blocked, causing a stream to overflow and flood basements again. There were also operations in the previously unaffected towns of Vellmar and Helsa due to heavy rainfall.
The initial focus of the cleanup efforts is the removal of large amounts of waste. Due to the heavy rain, many basements filled up, resulting in massive piles of bulky waste and sometimes special waste.
Hesse's Interior Minister Roman Poseck (CDU) plans to visit the affected area later in the day to assess the situation. He will hold talks with politicians and residents in particularly affected communities, the ministry announced. Apart from Trendelburg, Bad Karlshafen, and Wesertal, Reinhardshagen and Hofgeismar were also affected by the storms on Friday night. In the Trendelburg district of Gottsbüren, cars were pushed through the town by the floodwaters. A person was buried and several people trapped in cars had to be rescued.
The damage estimate is currently in the "high millions" for the affected municipality of Trendelburg-Gottsbüren. Later, Hesse's Interior Minister Roman Poseck is scheduled to visit this same municipality of Trendelburg to assess the situation.
