Dozens of people died in the floods, others lost their belongings.
One of those personally affected is Thomas Assmann, who usually reports on his patients on the “Body & Soul” page for the FAS.
The water in Engelskirchen in the Bergisches Land raged with such force that Assmann's second practice collapsed.
A call to the disaster area.
Mr. Assmann, how are you today?
I'm in shock, I think that can't be true.
We only founded the practice in Engelskirchen in 2016, it is my second next to the main practice in Lindlar.
It has been going really well for two years.
I was proud of it, felt comfortable there.
Then it's something like a child.
And if you lose a child like that, it comes close.
It depends on whether you surrender to the grief or say: I'm not giving up.
How can we imagine the practice that hit it?
The practice was a former sawmill.
Over 120 years old, built really nicely over a stream.
At the time I asked the architect if there was a risk of flooding.
He said to me: "Nothing has ever happened in 120 years."
So that was actually an event of the century. Tell us about it.
I had heard the warning of heavy rain the day before.
It then rained without end on Wednesday.
I was still in the practice in the afternoon, so to be on the safe side we put all the technical equipment on top of beer and water crates and sandbags.
We wanted to be careful.
There was definitely 50 to 60 centimeters of space between the stream and the foundation.
But you could see the water rise?
Yes.
At around 6 p.m. the level reached the top, up to the stop of the cross member on which the practice is located.
In the vicinity the water was already overflowing.
Flooding in the towns, flooded streets, howling sirens.
When could you no longer stop the water?
From 7 p.m. we had to accept that a little water would enter.
Like a trickle.
My employees and I moved all the equipment to a colleague's place in the neighboring practice, which is one meter higher.
There were three practices in the complex.
I told myself I would come back later that evening.
Did you have any inkling of the misfortune there?
One could expect that the practice would be flooded in the afternoon.
But I never thought that we would lose the practice.
The thing is: the whole thing only happened when the rain had already stopped.
At 10 p.m. it stopped raining.
We were optimistic and said to ourselves: Tomorrow the company will come to dry, everything will be fine.
Everyone thought, now we've done the worst - that's when the worst came. From the mountains the water came like a wave, as if someone had squeezed out a sponge.
Oh dear.
When we examined the practice, my friend suddenly said: “What are those cracks in the wall?” - “We're going out of here immediately,” said the architect.
Ten minutes later we saw outside how the first bricks were loosening from the foundation.
You could really see how the current was digging and working and undermining the foundation.
Finally, within seconds, the whole wall crashed down.
How did you experience that moment?
It was surreal.
I didn't even have the feeling that I was there.
It felt like I was indifferent, like watching a movie.
In the second before the wall collapsed, there was a flash of lightning from the power line, then everything was dark - like in the movie "Titanic".
I saw that and stood completely beside myself.
Only today, one day later, do I realize that this has something to do with me.
How are you doing now?
We were there this morning: you can only tear this thing off.
I am insured against natural hazards, even against volcanic eruptions.
The only question now is whether the insurance will pay.
We are in God's hands with insurers and on the high seas.
What does the misfortune mean for your patients?
In recent years, more and more colleagues have stopped, so it is becoming more and more difficult to ensure their supply.
The patients now have to continue driving to get to our main practice in Lindlar.
We are lucky to have this practice at all.
The colleague from the neighboring practice is left with nothing, he cried when that happened.
This practice was his life's work.
How can it be for people who have not lost their practice but their house?
The ground has been pulled from under these people in the truest sense of the word.
But do you still want to open a second practice again?
Especially now!
I won't let this catastrophe get me down.