Bomb disposal 3600 people to be evacuated in Ahrweiler
Ahrweiler · A bomb of five hundredweights discovered in Ahrweiler will be diffused on 5th March.
An American five hundredweight bomb was discovered on Wednesday evening during excavation work at a building site in the historic centre of Ahrweiler. A disposal team has secured the bomb at the site next to the railway crossing. Experts say that there is no immediate danger as the aircraft bomb has a mechanical detonating fuse. The bomb, which was exposed by a digger, has been covered with a protective sheet and is under round-the-clock surveillance by depot employees until its disposal which is planned for Sunday 5 March.
Mayor Guido Orthen explained that a bomb disposal team will create a safety radius of 500 metres around the site. Orthen says this will mean an evacuation of the entire historic centre. “3600 people will have to leave their homes by 9am,” says the mayor. 2150 households will be effected as well as all the hotels around the town wall. 106 residents of the St Maria Josef retirement and care home and all patients at the Ehren-wall clinic will also have to be evacuated. Following the evacuation, the fire brigade and council employees with check the houses in the area. Chief of County Police Gerhard Engel said “I will carry out an individual assessment on anyone who does not leave the evacuation area and then they will be taken into custody. If needs be, our officers will have to use force to bring all people to safety”.
Orthen believes that most people will use the time on Sunday to go out for the day. If not, the local Aloisius school and gym as well as the monastery Calvarienberg will be available for evacuees. The bypass road of the B267 as well as the Ahrtalbahn railway line will be closed for a short while for the bomb disposal.
Next week the council will distribute information leaflets to all those who will be effected by the evacuation. A telephone hotline will also be available from Wednesday 5 March between 8am and 4pm. The numbers to call are 02641/87-264 or 87-188.
The aircraft bomb was most likely part of an air raid carried out on Ahrweiler on 29 January 1945 which destroyed the Ahrhutstrasse, the Ahr gate and part of the town wall in the direction of the bomb’s location. 86 people lost their lives in the attack and are commemorated with a memorial stone in the Ahrtor cemetery. (Original text: Günther Schmitt. Translation: Caroline Payne)
