Not only residents, but also emergency services are surprised by the force with which the masses of water fell over Hagen and the adjacent parts of the Sauerland.

Yannic Weigel is one of them.

The 18-year-old high school graduate is with the volunteer fire brigade in Kierspe, a small town in the Sauerland.

It is usually 45 minutes by car to Hagen from here.

Weigel has already worked for more than 20 hours this Thursday.

He says on the phone that he won't forget the impressions anytime soon.

Lorenz Hemicker

Editor in politics

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When his reporter went on Wednesday morning at 9.30 a.m., it was initially only about an overcrowded basement - but then quickly.

The next time he was deployed, he was already knee-deep in the water of the Kerspe, a small stream that at that time had already turned into a raging river.

The boots were so wet that he walked completely on water.

"That's when I noticed that the situation was serious," says Weigel.  

At that time, the fire brigade control center in Kierspe kept receiving new calls.

The district control center, which normally takes care of the emergency calls, was overloaded.

Weigel and his comrades were on their own, they tried to empty the cellar.

Vain.

The water came from everywhere - from the raging waters, down the slopes, the water table rose too.

Experienced colleagues say that they have never seen such masses of water fall in their homeland.

So far, something like this has only been seen on television.

What Kyrill was as a storm in 2007, this storm has now brought with water. 

Friends write to him "Are you still alive?"

In the evening, in the fire brigade building, said Weigel, a comrade asked him: “Are you coming to Altena with me? Like here, only ten times as bad. ”Alongside Hagen, the mountain town on the Lenne is one of the worst places in the region that day. Whole pieces of slope tumbled down the narrow valley and cut off parts of the city from the outside world. The convoy from Kierspe was already driving long distances through the water that evening, past stranded cars and oil cans drifting next to them. Many sections of the B54 in the direction of Hagen had been flooded by the floods. Shortly before Altena the convoy came to a halt in front of an excavator. The floods had completely torn away the asphalt of the road.  

Instead, that night the Kiersper were sent to a factory in neighboring Werdohl. It contains sulfuric acid, which explodes when it comes into contact with water. With sandbags and a portable pump, Weigel and his comrades tried to keep the water away from the chemicals in the warehouse. At this point in time, his cell phone no longer stood still, says Weigel. Numerous short messages with questions like "Are you still alive?" His friends and family knew nothing of the precarious situation he was in. But the news of the death of a firefighter who had been swept away by the floods in Altena became public.

Meanwhile, the water in the company in Werdohl continued to rise towards the top of the dam. Shortly before the overflow, other firefighters from the neighboring town of Halver came with fresh sandbags. Weigel sums it up: “We are only just past the catastrophe.” Around two o'clock on Thursday morning, says Weigel, he unlocked the door at home in Kierspe. His father fell on his neck and burst into tears: "It's good that you're still alive!" That was hard for him. On Thursday, Weigel was back in action after three hours of sleep. Pump out a company. More rain had been announced.