Natural disaster: Flood disaster also hits many companies hard

Flooded company premises and idle machines: The flood disaster also hit many companies in North Rhine-Westphalia and Rhineland-Palatinate hard.

According to the company, a devastated plant of the automotive supplier ZF in Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler in Rhineland-Palatinate has been idle since the flood, as has production facilities for the copper recycler Aurubis in Stolberg near Aachen. RWE had to interrupt production in the Inden open-cast lignite mine and reduce production in its Weisweiler power plant. The Bad Münstereifel outlet center reports on its homepage: “Closed for an indefinite period.”

A spokesman for the Association of German Mechanical and Plant Engineering in North Rhine-Westphalia told the German Press Agency on Monday: “We have affected a number of companies.” He did not mention company names.

According to the company, there is no resumption of production in sight at the ZF plant, which was devastated by floods. The extent of the damage could not be foreseen, said a spokesman for the group headquartered in Friedrichshafen on request.

According to ZF, around 280 are regularly employed in the plant concerned. During the night of Thursday, the flooding flooded production and storage facilities, among other things. The water in the plant was up to two meters high. Twelve vehicles, including a caravan, were washed into the halls from the outside. The plant was devastated. The ground was covered with a thick layer of mud. According to the company, there were no injuries.

The copper recycler Aurubis had already reported last week that it had to stop production in Stolberg and evacuate the plant due to severe weather effects. The plant with its around 400 employees can therefore no longer meet its delivery obligations. “The effects of the storm on our plant in Stolberg are shocking for all of us,” said Aurubis boss Roland Harings. The flooding affected the entire company premises. “We will do everything we can to rebuild the plant and start production again as soon as possible.”

At the electricity supplier RWE, the Inden open-cast lignite mine and the connected Weisweiler power plant were badly affected. The power plant also ran with reduced power on Monday, as a company spokesman reported. On Thursday the river Inde had flooded a dike and ran into the open pit. Coal production had to be stopped and could not be resumed until the end of the week. The power plant has been operating at reduced output since then. Numerous RWE hydropower plants in the Eifel, Moselle, Saar and Ruhr regions also had to temporarily stop operating. The damage could reach a mid double-digit million euro amount, forecast RWE.

The Bad Münstereifel outlet center was also hit hard. The trade journal “Textilwirtschaft” reported that almost all of the shops in the outlet center had been destroyed.

At Volkswagen, the impact on logistics is limited. As at the end of last week, there are “only local disruptions at a few supplier locations”, it said on Monday from the Wolfsburg headquarters. Overall, the parts supply network works despite the consequences of the storm. Production is therefore not restricted.

Federal Agriculture Minister Julia Klöckner demanded that flood aid should also benefit agriculture. According to initial impressions, the damage to agricultural land, buildings and infrastructure was “at a level that threatened the very existence of the country,” said her ministry. Grain stocks were destroyed in many places, entire animal populations drowned and facilities of wineries and winegrowers’ cooperatives were destroyed. The federal cabinet will discuss the emergency aid from the federal government on Wednesday.

The General Secretary of the German Farmers’ Association, Bernhard Krüsken, supported Klöckner’s initiative. “It is important and right that the farms are also given immediate aid. Agriculture is massively affected by the flood, ”said Krüsken of the German press agency.