This article first appeared on Friday, August 7th, 2012 in the OÖ Nachrichten
“When the rain didn’t stop, I went to the factory and saw the catastrophe,” says the company boss. Instead of two cubic meters, up to 330 cubic meters of water per second rolled through the narrow river valley and took mud, debris, trees and parts of the building towards the Schwertberg. At the Engel company, world market leader for injection molding machines, the factory halls and office buildings were devastated. At the car logistics company Hödlmayr, the delivery warehouse with around 5,000 new cars was a meter high in water. Around 1,500 cars were totaled.
But he never thought about giving up, says Engel CEO Peter Neumann of the OÖ Nachrichten: “When I walked through the halls for the first time, I just thought: How can you get this going again? Work consistently, step by step.” A lot of motivation came from the commitment of the employees. Neumann: “It also showed who has leadership qualities.” Many helpers came from all over the country. “Total strangers suddenly stood there with shovels and grabbed hold of them,” says Christoph Merckens, still impressed today.
The family business was cut off from the outside world because the flood had swept away roads and bridges. The state helped and made one track suitable for trucks, so that the first deliveries could be made again on August 24th. “If that had lasted half a year, all the customers would have gone,” says Merckens. We were in constant contact with suppliers and banks to convince everyone that the business could survive despite the damage. The cardboard factory suffered a loss of nine million euros – that was an annual turnover at the time.
Private and small businesses on the Aist have suffered a loss of several hundred million euros. At Engel alone it was around 200 million, including business interruption. Even more: the flood put one of the most important industrial locations in Upper Austria into question. Engel and Hödlmayr considered moving to flood-safe locations. “The insurance companies would no longer have provided cover. We couldn’t have invested more,” says Neumann. The solution was: Flood protection was put up with public help, which made the location insurable again. Even today, everyone is full of praise for the financial and organizational help from the state, the republic and the EU.
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Source: Nachrichten
