One point of contention raised by the affected residents concerns warning sirens. They criticize that no siren was sounded on June 4 to warn residents of the impending danger of flooding to their properties. The press office of the city indicated that the rain gauge data from the Fire Department was limited only to the city area of Bonn and because of that, a warning was only possible at very short notice. The residents didn’t find this explanation to make sense because an alarm had been sounded in Fritzdorf three hours in advance. Spokesperson for the group, Wolfram Kuster criticized, “The information flow between the community of Wachtberg and the City of Bonn did not work.”

Another big failure Kuster sees is lack of information from the administration. In November of 2013, the area at Beethovenallee was flagged by Cologne district officials as a potential flooding area. Residents were not adequately informed. The City rejects this accusation and stressed that public notices - also posted in the General Anzeiger - pointed out the determined flood plain. It was not possible to notify each citizen separately.

The homeowner group also calls for the city to make structural changes to the bridge at Hohenzollernstraße. Water built up there and cause a tidal wave over the properties at Beethovenallee. Already in 2013, Cologne district officials determined that the bridge had “insufficient hydraulic capacity.”

Bürgerbund Bonn (BBB), an activist group, has already responded to the open letter of the homeowner group and requested that the issue be on the agenda of the city council in Bad Godesberg on July 6. The consequences of the floods should be politically assessed and discussed.

Orig. text: Joshua Bung