Today in Rhein-Main: Preparations are underway for a power outage lasting several days

Good evening,

as a colleague remarked in the morning conference: "Anyway, good news: It's raining!" There's almost nothing to add to that.

Because there isn't much good news to report right now.

The Rheingau-Taunus district is preparing for the dangers emanating from a massive power failure, the Mayor of Darmstadt, Jochen Partsch, speaks in an interview about his task force for gas shortages and a plaintiff is fighting for damages in front of the Higher Regional Court.

She demands back 75,000 euros from Messe Frankfurt.

The plaintiff incurred costs for a trade fair that had to be canceled due to the pandemic.

Marie Lisa Kehler

Deputy head of the regional section of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.

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Think gloomily:

Those who want to prepare for crises must not be sensitive.

He must be thinking darkly.

Appropriate preparations can only be made if the worst possible scenario has been thought through with a cool head.

Authorities and civil protection have known this for a long time.

And so the

What to do if the fuel can no longer be delivered to the filling stations, the cell phone networks and heating fail?

The duration determines the extent of the damage, says district fire inspector Christian Rossel.

If the power goes out for just a few hours, the damage is manageable.

A so-called blackout, however, a power outage that affects a region for several days, has serious consequences, according to Rossel.

The emergency call would no longer be so easy to reach, and the first sewage treatment plants would have to stop operating.

Even hospitals cannot ensure the care of patients requiring ventilation over a long period of time, which is why deaths are to be expected.

This is one of the reasons why the district wants to start preparing for an emergency as soon as possible.

Our correspondent Oliver Bock has summarized what these could look like.

Help for hoteliers:

The "energy crisis" also concerns Darmstadt's Mayor Jochen Partsch (The Greens).

Together with the CEO of the Darmstadt-based energy supplier Entega, Marie-Luise Wolff, he spoke in the FAZ interview about saving energy, extreme cost increases and cold showers.

The city of Darmstadt set up a gas shortage task force in mid-July.

One of the decisions that was made: City offices are only heated from October to April, regardless of the outside temperature.

When asked what additional costs consumers should expect, Wolff replies: “Roughly speaking, you have to expect that

- from January 1, 2023." And further: "If the war in Ukraine cannot be ended quickly , it will be even more expensive in 2024.

How much the loads increase, of course, always depends on the heating behavior.

That's why it's so important to communicate now that heating is the lever with which you can save the most." In the interview you can read what the rising costs mean for medium-sized companies and how the Darmstadt-based energy supplier is trying to avert the consequences.

Lawsuit failed:

Corona?

There seems to be no more room for that in the minds of many people.

After all, the next challenges are just around the corner.

The judiciary still has to deal with the consequences of the Corona crisis.

The

The exhibitor wanted 75,000 euros from Messe Frankfurt because they had first postponed and then canceled the "Light + Building" planned for March 2020.

The trade fair had paid back the stand fees.

But that was not enough for the plaintiff.

She demanded damages - for example for hotel reservations and PR measures.

The basis of the contract changed so drastically in spring 2020 "that the parties would no longer have concluded the contract with the old content if they had known about these changed circumstances," the judgment said.