It is important to Interior Minister Roger Lewentz (SPD) on Wednesday in Mainz that the realignment of civil protection in Rhineland-Palatinate is not solely due to the night of the flood in July 2021, in which 135 people died in the Ahr Valley.

He also cites Russia's attack on Ukraine, the risk of a core meltdown in the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, and climate change, which is leading to more low water levels and forest fires, as reasons for additional investments in civil protection.

Timo Steppat

Editor in Politics.

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The reference to the flood catastrophe could all too easily be understood as a kind of admission of guilt, after all he and his ministry are the focus of the opposition's allegations.

According to this, the country is said to have not had an overview of the situation in the affected region for a long time and intervened far too late.

The state government now wants to create a kind of state office for disaster control, which will initially have 144 full-time positions and create situation reports 24 hours a day.

In quieter phases, employees should be able to practice tricky situations and get used to each other.

If, for example, a heavy rain event is imminent, an official from the State Office for the Environment (LfU) in Mainz should be seconded to help with the interpretation of water levels and forecast warnings.

Warnings from the LfU had silted up within the state government on the evening of the flood, these and other warnings, such as the European flood warning system, had not reached the responsible municipal civil protection officers or could not be assessed.

The civil protection office with the rank of a higher state authority, for which Lewentz says there is still no "catchy name", is to be created from the department for fire and disaster control of the municipal supervisory authority ADD and the fire brigade and disaster control academy (LFKA).

When asked why the ADD, which was also subject to criticism, was not simply strengthened, Lewentz said that an authority should not be overloaded with tasks.

The interior minister did not want to say when the new situation center could be operational;

he merely pointed out that the positions could be approved in the budget by December.

There should also be a joint competence center for disaster control and civil protection (GeKoB-Land), which, as a counterpart to the new competence center at the federal level, should ensure “permanent and sustainable networking of the actors”.

Work is to be carried out temporarily at the LFKA site in Koblenz.

According to Lewentz, he cannot yet say where the new authority could be based.

The Minister of the Interior said that the costs that would arise from the realignment of civil protection could not be "seriously" named.

He called a three-digit million sum.

National standards

The state government also wants to expand its powers.

So far, the ADD has only provided legal supervision of the civil protection of the municipalities, but not technical supervision.

According to the will of the state government, this should change in the future.

There should be national standards in civil protection, which are defined and regularly checked.

During the flood disaster, it became clear that many municipalities, including the district of Ahrweiler, do not have the required alarm and operational planning.

In addition, there should be a requirement for the creation of municipal disaster control centers.

The Minister of the Interior emphasized that the municipalities still wanted to be given some leeway and that the exact design should be discussed in dialogue with them and the fire brigades and other stakeholders.

In the Fire and Disaster Protection Act (LBKG), which Lewentz wants to reform by the end of the 2026 legislative period, it should be precisely defined when responsibility for a situation passes to the state.

This is exactly what is currently being debated in the case of the Ahr Valley;

Experts interpret the LBKG differently.

Minister of the Interior Lewentz and the President of the ADD, Thomas Linnertz, will have to testify again in September before the committee of inquiry on questions of responsibility.