What about flood protection in the MKK?

Green Group sends detailed question to administration / "Extreme weather will increase"

More than 180 people died in the flood disaster in Rhineland-Palatinate and North Rhine-Westphalia in July this year. "It can be assumed that extreme weather conditions will increase in the coming years," says Bernd Wietzorek, spokesperson for flood protection of the Green parliamentary group. “The floods could have hit us too, many people in the circle also live in a valley. In addition, only at the beginning of the year parts of the circle, especially around Nidderau, were under water. This makes it all the more important that there is proper flood protection in the district.”

For this reason, the Group has put a question to the administration: ‘The environmental report of the district also deals with flood protection.’ It refers to defined areas, i.e. areas severely affected by a flood event, and not defined areas, where the effects would not be so severe: "The flooding, for example, has broken all records in Ahrweiler, so it is important to think about whether the designated areas will be extended and the flood protection measures will be strengthened where no major flood risk has been assumed so far", says Wietzorek.

When considering the sufficient flood protection, the starting point is always a century-old flood, a so-called HQ100: "The Ahrweiler flood even surpasses the HQ100, so we ask the administration whether new measures have been taken to protect the population after the flood, especially in the case of extreme floods caused by enormous amounts of rain in a short period of time that go beyond HQ 100, as happened in Ahrweiler. We would also like to know the state of play with regard to the construction of retention basins for salt and brittle.” The already existing flood protection is also the aim of the Green parliamentary group's inquiry: ‘There are protective structures in Biebergemünd, Bruchköbel, Gelnhausen and Hanau. Here we would like to know whether these will be strengthened or expanded according to the latest results.”

An important milestone in flood protection was the accession to the national pilot project ‘Water-related flood protection Kinzig’ in 2006. “We would like to know which measures have already been implemented and which are currently being worked on.”

Finally, Wietzorek makes an appeal to the towns and municipalities of the district: ‘Which roads or places are particularly vulnerable to heavy rain, which route the water masses pass through the cities and municipalities or whether there are critical areas such as retirement homes or hospitals that then need special protection, these questions are answered by a hydrological risk analysis. Climate municipalities are reimbursed by the state of Hesse 100 percent of the costs for the creation, all other municipalities 80 percent of the costs. This is where the district can take action and reimburse the municipalities for the ineligible costs", Wietzorek concludes.

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Enquiries to:

Jakob Mähler
Group Managing Director
Alliance 90 / The Greens Main-Kinzig
06181/61596
0176/46763336
fraktion@gruene-mkk.de