Interior Minister Peter Beuth (CDU) sees Hessen armed for natural events such as those that occurred in neighboring countries in the summer.

When asked how the Hessian authorities react in such cases, he replied that the early warning system for heavy rain and floods was “useful”.

“At the same time, the federal and state governments are in close contact to examine further optimizations in the transmission of information,” said Beuth.

The parliamentary groups of the FDP and AfD had inquired in different written versions.

Ewald Hetrodt

Correspondent for the Rhein-Main-Zeitung in Wiesbaden.

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As reported, the Rhineland-Palatinate authorities are accused of scarcely warning the population of the natural disaster, although the State Office for the Environment sounded the alarm early on.

A total of 134 people died in one night in mid-July in Rhineland-Palatinate alone.

More than 760 were injured.

The public prosecutor's office is investigating a district administrator on suspicion of negligent homicide through omission.

A parliamentary committee of inquiry is to clarify the responsibility of the state government in Mainz.

Level-related predictions

According to Beuth, the flood center in Hessen, which was located at the State Office for Nature Conservation, Environment and Geology ten years ago, calculates discharge forecasts on a daily basis in order to be able to detect floods at an early stage and warn of them.

Level-related forecasts provide information on the situation in medium-sized and larger bodies of water.

Reliable forecasts for up to 24 hours and estimates for up to seven days are created.

There are daily updated warning maps for waters in smaller catchment areas.

The Hessian State Office for Nature Conservation, which is comparable to the Rhineland-Palatinate State Office for the Environment, provides information on the current flood situation, its development and the likely future course.

This information and the severe weather warnings from the German Weather Service are sent to the districts or independent cities.

They determine the start and end of a disaster in agreement with the Hessian Ministry of the Interior and make them known.

In the event of imminent danger, the municipality can declare a disaster on its own without the involvement of the Ministry of the Interior.

Warning also via loudspeaker

Beuth emphasizes that the organization of disaster control in Hesse follows the principle of subsidiarity.

This means that the lower level acts first.

The law stipulates that warning the population is a task of the municipality, for which it has to provide sirens, for example.

In addition, according to the law, the districts can issue warnings via mobile radio devices.

Loudspeaker announcements from emergency vehicles are also planned. According to the Hessian Minister of the Interior, public broadcasting already committed itself to the federal and state governments in 2008 to disseminate hazard reports if necessary. As a supplement, Beuth mentions the free app hessenWARN. It has proven itself since its introduction in November 2019 and currently reaches around 785,000 users. The storm warnings in summer were also provided via an automated interface with the German Weather Service in the areas affected in Hesse.

In the flood disaster in Rhineland-Palatinate and North Rhine-Westphalia, the aid provided by Hesse with 1200 emergency services was "exemplary", says Beuth.

The police squadron in cooperation with the Wiesbaden professional fire brigade saved 270 people from acute mortal danger.

Hessen reacted to the increasing dangers emanating from heavy rain events and increased its resources accordingly.

Numerous so-called roll-off containers are now available to civil protection.

They are equipped with pumps and hoses to render large amounts of water harmless.

In addition, around 1.5 million sandbags are available in the central warehouse of the disaster control in Wetzlar.