Documents that have now become known indicate that there were warnings of inadequate flood protection for the gravel pit in Erftstadt more than ten years ago.

A landslide with serious consequences occurred there during the devastating flood disaster last summer.

As reported by the "West German Broadcasting Corporation", the Geological Service of North Rhine-Westphalia raised concerns about the main operating plan of the gravel pit in the Arnsberg district government, which is responsible for the approval and supervision of opencast mining, as early as 2011 and 2012.

Pure burger

Political correspondent in North Rhine-Westphalia.

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In January 2021, just six months before the disaster, the geological service expressed "strong concerns" because it doubted the stability of the gravel pit slopes.

“The stability has not been proven by any of the reports submitted so far.

All reports are with regard to the subsoil structure.

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incomplete or incorrect,” says the statement.

The aerial photo of the Erftstadt-Blessem crater had become a symbol of the devastating July flood in Germany and abroad in the summer.

After days of heavy rain, the otherwise peaceful little river had turned into a torrent.

On July 16, the Erft found a new destination in Blessem: the gravel pit on the outskirts.

On the way there, the water undermined streets, swept away cars, and several buildings collapsed;

the great crater formed.

Miraculously, there were no fatalities in Blessem.

Criminal investigations are already underway

Economics Minister Andreas Pinkwart (FDP) said on Friday in the flood investigation committee of the North Rhine-Westphalian state parliament that his house, as the so-called mountain authority, was responsible for supervision in this matter, but had been asked by the Cologne public prosecutor to suspend their own investigations until the investigation was completed.

Since the beginning of the year, Cologne prosecutors have been investigating ten suspects for endangering construction and violating the Federal Mining Act: the owner and lessor of the gravel pit, five employees of the operating company and four employees of the Arnsberg district government.

Pinkwart said it had to be clarified whether the concerns expressed by the Geological Survey actually applied to the part of the gravel pit that later slipped.

He does not rule out failures by the authorities.

However, the operator of the gravel pit was obliged to have the flood protection systems checked regularly by experts and to document this in the operations log.

On Friday afternoon, the Ministry of Economics said that after an examination, it had been determined that the statement by the Geological Service from the beginning of 2021 could not be linked to the sliding of the southern embankment. 

According to the findings of the Cologne public prosecutor's office so far, there was no "flood protection wall in accordance with official regulations" at the gravel pit and at the same time "inadmissibly steep embankments", both of which made it possible for large amounts of water to penetrate.

This is said to have led to a "retrogressive erosion" and the collapse of the buildings on the outskirts.