In the flood disaster a year ago, 134 people died in the Ahr Valley. Where was the district administrator at the time? An investigator charged Pföhler heavily before the investigative committee. Accordingly, the politician did little, although the situation must have been clear to him.
According to an investigating police officer, Ahr District Administrator Jürgen Pföhler made almost no efforts of his own to avert the flood disaster. “He has taken himself to safety and warned a few neighbors in his immediate vicinity,” said the official from the State Criminal Police Office in the Rhineland-Palatinate state parliament investigation committee in Mainz. “By 10 p.m. at the latest, he (Pföhler) should have been reasonably aware of the situation in the Ahr Valley and what might be coming to Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler,” said the 59-year-old witness. After 11 p.m., 87 people died in Bad Neuenahr and Sinzig.
By 8 p.m. at the latest, Pföhler knew that it had to be assumed that the risk of flooding on the Ahr was “generally very high” and that flash floods and flooding were to be expected. Pföhler then also knew that the water level in Altenahr had actually reached 5.09 meters and was thus well above that of the so-called flood of the century in 2016, said the police officer. In addition, the former district administrator knew that several hundred forces were deployed, people had to be rescued and helicopter deployments were no longer possible.
The Katwarn warning of the highest level only went out at 11:09 p.m. with a delay of around half an hour, he said. Pföhler’s wife said in a telephone conversation with the LKA that her husband was “at her house and away from time to time” that evening. Pföhler himself did not comment. According to witnesses, he was only briefly in the Technical Operations Center (TEL) twice, once at around 7:20 p.m. to meet Interior Minister Roger Lewentz, and once before that, between 5 p.m. and 6 p.m.
The TEL in the district administration was completely understaffed and from a certain point in time was also completely overwhelmed, said the LKA official. The volunteer fire and disaster control inspector (BKI) did not have time to assess the situation in peace and was part of the casework, but not a head of operations. Pföhler explained that he was not in charge of operations that day because he had already transferred this function to the BKI “permanently and generally” in 2018.
Regarding the criminal investigations against the CDU politician and the then BKI, the official said that the question remained open as to what would have happened if Pföhler had taken over and what measures he could have taken and how they would have worked.
At least 135 people died in the flood disaster a year ago (July 14/15) in northern Rhineland-Palatinate, including 134 in the Ahr Valley. 766 people were injured. Roads, bridges, gas, electricity and water lines and around 9,000 buildings were destroyed or badly damaged over a length of 40 kilometers along the Ahr. Around 42,000 people are affected in the Ahr Valley alone, and around 65,000 nationwide.
