When the names of the victims are read out, the list goes on forever.

134 people were killed in the flood disaster in Rhineland-Palatinate in mid-July.

The state ceremony for them will be held on Wednesday at the Nürburgring.

Around 2500 relatives, helpers and local politicians are invited.

From the Nürburgring, located above the Ahr, support has been coordinated over the past few weeks, and a “helper town” has emerged;

Until recently, donations in kind from all over Germany were piled up in the hall in which the memorial event is taking place.

Julian Staib

Political correspondent for Hesse, Rhineland-Palatinate and Saarland based in Wiesbaden.

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At the beginning of his speech, Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier echoes the words of a flood victim: "What do you live for when nothing is as it used to be?"

And warns that help and attention are not only necessary now, in times of acute need, but for a long time to come.

It is a worthy commemoration in which there is much talk of hope, courage and solidarity, and in which much is remembered of the overwhelming helpfulness of the thousands of volunteers.

Hundreds are traumatized

And yet that evening the question hovers over everything whether many of the dead would not still be alive had the authorities warned the people better. After all, there were precise forecasts of the water levels during the day before the flood came over the Ahr valley at night. And finally, the water levels in the small tributaries were enormous long before the floods reached the Ahr. Nevertheless, on the night of July 15th, many people in the Ahr Valley were surprised by the masses of water while they were sleeping. 766 people were injured, many were only able to save themselves with their clothes on, hundreds are traumatized.

It is important for everyone to ask "what we can do to be better prepared for such catastrophes, for such extreme weather conditions," says Steinmeier. The mayor of Altenahr, Cornelia Weigand, warns that in future it will be necessary to issue more targeted warnings and to form more effective crisis teams. In the valley, the question of why it had to come this far is now more pressing than it was shortly after the flood. There should have been warnings, says a resident in Insul on Wednesday. Nobody died here, but the place is still badly hit. Villages further upstream were hit by the flood much earlier - why wasn't that passed on? And why not go further down the river, such as Kreuzberg and Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler, where so many have died?

In the meantime, the number of voluntary and professional helpers in the valley has decreased significantly. The day after the flood, Insul had been bustling with activity. Hundreds were on the streets, shoveling the mud out of the houses, clearing away the rubble. On Wednesday, however, the streets are empty, and many of the houses look deserted. On the other side of the river, an excavator is tearing down a building. Six other houses are already gone, says an older man who is standing where there was once a bridge over the Ahr. Even a month and a half after the flood disaster, the brown line of the water can still be seen at head height on the houses.

Many of the buildings are currently uninhabited, many of the residents have found shelter with friends and acquaintances, others in holiday apartments, says a local resident. Some have moved away completely and have sold everything here without further ado. And in many places the essentials are still missing. The possibility of cooking for yourself, for example. The German Red Cross is currently bringing a warm meal and food packages for thousands by shuttle. There are also no heating options. The gas supply has been destroyed, as has many oil heating systems in the basement. Until the beginning of autumn, repairs or even opening up with new gas pipes will hardly be possible. In addition, it must first be checked where buildings will be permanently habitable at all.

The Rhineland-Palatinate Prime Minister Malu Dreyer assured people on Wednesday that “everything will be done so that the old home can also be the new home”. She also refers to the funds that the federal and state governments are making available for reconstruction. Private individuals and entrepreneurs are supposed to get up to eighty percent of the damage reimbursed by the state through the construction aid. Dreyer assures us that the federal and state governments provide a “guarantee” for long-term support. “Nobody will be forgotten”.