Dernau after the flood
ZEIT Online, 2021 –
Dernau is located in the middle of the Ahr valley in Western Germany. The vineyards reach up to the garden fences of the higher houses, and some of the vines grow down to the river bank. Dernau has its own train station, and it is known for its location on the red wine trail and its wine festival at the end of September. And now also for a flood that is considered one of the worst natural disasters in recent German history. On the night of July 14/15th 2021, eleven people died in Dernau, bridges were torn down, and buildings and cars were destroyed. Most of the houses were underwater.
What does a disaster of this magnitude do to a village where everyone knows everyone? How do you rebuild it? And what will change forever? With ZEIT ONLINE we accompanied locals in Dernau over the course of three years.
Picture editors: Andreas Prost & Dorothea Fiedler
Writers: Katrin Blum, Alexander Krex, Katharina Meyer zu Eppendorf, Sara Tomšić
August 2021: Excavators demolish the collapsed bridge over the Ahr
August 2021: A police water cannon brings fresh water to the destroyed village
August 2021: Donations pile up at the elementary school
August 2021: Winemaker Markus Bertram on the first floor of the Weinhaus.
August 2021: A residential building is gutted.
August 2021: The water has left its mark on every house, many buildings are uninhabitable.
June 2022: The water has left its mark on every house, buildings have been demolished
August 2021: Main Street
June 2022: Main Street
September 2021: Visitors to the wine festival have to cross the temporary bridge to get to the sports field.
September 2021: Children play on a large mountain of bark mulch on the sports field during the annual wine festival
October 2021: Winemaker Bertram inspects the first grape harvest since the flood
December 2021: A Christmas tree on the Main Street
June 2022: Michaela Marner in the Gartenstraße
June 2022: Werner Müller holds a mourning card that he has pulled out of his shirt pocket. It shows his wife Marita Müller, who committed suicide on July 26, 2021. “You worked, you managed, until the flood took your strength.”
June 2022: Carina Dewald's filling station on the edge of Dernau in the direction of Rech has been rebuilt
June 2022: Giuseppe Maglia makes his own ice cream in the vending trailer.
June 2022: View of Dernau and the maypole over the peaceful Ahr in its green bed
Aufust 2021: A dead snake on the side of the B267 between Dernau and Walporzheim
June 2022: demolition or reconstruction
July 2023: On the Ahr between Dernau and Walporzheim, a sign advertises a “Flood Photo Exhibition” and “Flood Wine”
July 2023: “Release the files” is written on a bridge pillar in a traffic circle in the north of Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler