Olaf Scholz: Floods are more frequent and more severe
“Floods of the century” are occurring more frequently than just once a century. Olaf Scholz has now pointed out that he has already had to speak of a “flood of the century” four times in 2024 alone.
First in Saarland and Lower Saxony and now in Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg. Four “floods of the century” in less than half a year. That’s how quickly time flies. In recent years, Germany has experienced flood disasters on the Oder and Danube, on the Ahr and Erft, on the Elbe and Mulde, on the Inn and Ilz and on the Ilm.
No climate protection costs our future
Floods and rivers are increasingly sweeping away people’s livelihoods. The consequences are brutal. The climate catastrophe costs human lives, devastates houses, roads, stables, landscapes, railways and factories. The flood disaster in the Ahr valley in 2021 alone caused damage of over 50 billion euros. Consistent climate protection costs money – that’s true. But no climate protection costs our future. And it will be even more expensive. No climate protection is ultimately unaffordable.
The Chancellor: “Floods will become more frequent and more severe in future.” On Monday of this week alone, over 20,000 rescue workers were in constant action in Bavaria.
Parallel to the current disaster, a government report shows that the German government will miss its climate targets by 2030. The current disaster makes it clear that technical measures such as dams and dykes alone are not sufficient for effective prevention. Even more important is a more efficient climate protection policy and the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions through a faster expansion of renewable energies.
The “floods of the century” in Germany and elsewhere, as well as the dramatic melting of ice at the North and South Poles, in Alaska and Greenland, in the Alps and the Himalayas, show that climate change is not happening somewhere and sometime, but now, globally and everywhere. With the measures taken so far, climate protection is built on sand.
The daily newspaper “taz” writes: “Scholz should do more than just shake hands and promise state aid in disaster areas. As a result of the floods, there have been renewed calls for compulsory insurance for natural hazards.
The Minister President of North Rhine-Westphalia, Hendrik Wüst, addressed Chancellor Scholz directly: “Germany is in a constant downpour, but the Chancellor is not opening his umbrella,” criticised the CDU politician. He expected Scholz to honour his word and introduce compulsory insurance for homeowners. Wüst’s Hessian colleague Boris Rhein expressed a similar view.
Source
FRANZ ALT 2024 | Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator
