Floods in the Ahr Valley: 135 dead – but the Porsche district administrator does not have to go to court | Regional

Koblenz (Rhineland-Palatinate) – 135 people died in the worst floods in the Ahr Valley. Blame? It seems no one! Almost three years after the disaster, the investigation against former district manager Jürgen Pföhler (65, CDU) and technical operations manager Michael Z. (54) has been terminated.

It was a huge investigation with 30,000 pages of files. 11,000 emergency calls had to be evaluated. Mario Mannweiler, chief public prosecutor in Koblenz Rhineland-Palatinatehe spoke about a “higher event” that could not be predicted. He explained on Thursday: “After a thorough consideration of all the results, it cannot be confirmed that the district manager at the time and the manager of technical operations committed a criminal offense.” Therefore, there is no guilt. probably.

Porsche District Manager Pföhler, who almost completely drowned on the night of the flood, was threatened with a charge of negligent homicide without fault. He now has a “first class discharge”.

“This is a slander of the court!”

Victim’s lawyer Christian Hecken, who represents several survivors, told BILD: “The suspension of the investigation is a scandal of the court. For example, in the case of Johanna Orth, who drowned in a basement in Bad-Neuenahr-Ahrweiler, it is clear that she could have been saved if she had been warned in time.”

The lawyer has already announced that he will appeal against the decision on behalf of his clients.

The drama of death on the night of the flood

Review: The night of July 14 to 15, 2021 135 people were swept away by water up to 10 meters to their deaths. The youngest victim was 4, the oldest 97. More than 9,000 buildings were completely or partially destroyed and 17,000 residents lost their property.

The former district administrator Jürgen Pföhler was seen only once during the night by the operations managers in the basement of the district administration – around 7:20 pm together with the former Minister of the Interior Roger Lewentz.

The district manager stopped answering the phone

After that he was obvious District fire inspector Z. cannot even be reached on his mobile phone. The Porsche district manager made 13 more calls to his girlfriend.

At around 10:30 pm he is said to have rescued his red Porsche Cayman from a garage in Bad Neuenahr. The disaster alarm was only launched at 11:09 pm. All this happened in… The flood investigation committee of the state assembly known.

Apparently that’s not even enough for a lawsuit!

Christoph Arnold, the attorney for volunteer fire department chief Michael Z., told BILD: “Dismissal of the case against my client is correct. He and all the other firefighters did everything they could to save people. They couldn’t have done more with their limited options.”

“Our deepest condolences go out to the victims”

The chief public prosecutor Mannweiler emphasized at the beginning: “We have to force ourselves to classify the actual and legal situation in a dispassionate, objective and moderate way. It is not as if one has failed in character.”

Mannweiler went on to say: “We are aware of the indescribable suffering that the tragedy has caused and we know of many human fates. Our condolences go out to the victims and their families.”

Relatives of the victims are stunned. Ralph and Inka Orth, whose daughter died in the flood, wanted to act as co-plaintiffs to ensure that those responsible for the “failure of the government” were held accountable. According to BILD news, they want to continue fighting!

2 years after the flood disasterThe Ahr Valley is still suffering