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Flood aftermath in the Blessem district of Erftstadt, Germany. AP/PA Images

Germany's 'flood of death' becomes political as climate change takes centre stage

Politicians have so far broadly refrained from politicising the issue.

THE CLIMATE EMERGENCY was already prominent in the campaign for September elections in Germany, but devastating floods have further shone the spotlight on what has become a hot button issue for all candidates.

More than 100 people were killed in western Germany in what has been dubbed a “flood of death” that crashed on to houses in a violent storm overnight on Wednesday, sweeping them away, uprooting trees and leaving a trail of despair in its wake.

As the country struggles to come to terms with the tragedy, politicians have so far broadly refrained from politicising the issue.

A Green lawmaker who had slammed the policies of rival parties just as the tragedy unfolded deleted his tweet, accused of shamelessly using the event for personal gain.

But political leaders have been quick to pinpoint climate change as a cause of the tragedy.

Armin Laschet, the conservative running to succeed Angela Merkel in the election on 26 September, called for “speeding up” efforts to fight climate change, underlining the link between global warming and extreme weather.

He is the head of North Rhine-Westphalia, one of the two worst-hit states along with neighbouring Rhineland-Palatinate.

In a densely populated area of Germany where big cities like Duesseldorf, Cologne and Bonn are located, entire villages were devastated when the rivers broke their banks.

“The fact that people are dying in a highly industrialised country because of extreme weather conditions… simply shows that we are increasingly reaching the limits of our adaptive capacity,” warned meteorologist Mojib Latif, a researcher at the Kiel Institute of Marine Sciences, in the daily Neue Osnabruecker Zeitung.

‘Our responsibility’

Interior Minister Horst Seehofer, of Merkel’s conservative Union bloc, stressed that Germany must “prepare much better” for climate change.

So quick were some leaders to rush to the disaster zones that they drew criticism from Robert Habeck, co-leader of the Green party.

“It is now the time for rescuers and not the time for politicians who just stand in the way,” he said on his Instagram account.

He acknowledged however that it was legitimate for local officials to get an idea of what was happening on the ground.

The Greens are behind the conservatives in the polls, burnt by a series of missteps by their candidate Annalena Baerbock, the party’s other leader.

And while politicians have been cautious about challenging climate policies implemented during Merkel’s 16 years in power as the tragedy remains raw, activists have spoken out.

“The catastrophic consequences of the heavy rains of the last few days are largely our own responsibility,” said Holger Sticht, head of the North Rhine-Westphalia branch of the German Federation for the Environment and Nature Conservation.

He pointed to construction in flood zones, and deforestation on slopes that could once have held back some of the rain.

Impossible to prevent?

For Ursula Heinen-Esser, environment minister for North Rhine-Westphalia, climate change was the main cause of the tragedy.

“The challenge is that sometimes we have to deal with extreme drought and sometimes extremely heavy rains,” she told local newspaper Koelner Stadt-Anzeiger.

The soil was “barely able to absorb more water due to the drought in previous years and the rainfall in recent weeks”, she said, adding that in this situation it was “practically impossible to react in the short term”.

Scientists though gave a more damning assessment.

Hannah Cloke, hydrology professor at Reading University in the UK, said that “for so many people to die in floods in Europe in 2021 represents a monumental failure of the system”.

“The sight of people driving or wading through deep floodwater fills me with horror, as this is about the most dangerous thing you can do in a flood,” she said.

“Forecasters could see this heavy rain coming and issued alerts early in the week, and yet the warnings were not taken seriously enough and preparations were inadequate.

“These kinds of high-energy, sudden summer torrents of rain are exactly what we expect in our rapidly heating climate.”

© – AFP 2021

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    Mute Nemethon
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    Jul 8th 2024, 9:32 AM

    Yayyyyy paid out so to pay for some of the holidays to Spain yippee. I volunteer with a charity and within the next few weeks we’ll be inundated with calls for help for to pay for uniforms. I think the BOS allowance should be paid out differently not in cash but a credit note therefore the money is used for it’s intended purpose and not wazzed up again a wall on holidays or extensions or nails etc.

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    Mute Karen Marten
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    Jul 8th 2024, 9:58 AM

    @Nemethon: yes totally agree .

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    Mute P. V. Aglue
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    Jul 8th 2024, 10:38 AM

    @Nemethon: there’ll be an extra in the Christmas bonus allowance to help with election voting decisions

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    Mute Karen Marten
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    Jul 8th 2024, 12:27 PM

    @Nemethon: also why is it payed so early in month sould be later

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    Mute Fiona Wyse
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    Jul 8th 2024, 10:09 AM

    Surely the back of school allowance should be reduced now that there is free primary school books and that the tablets for the secondary schools have also been reduced due to this initiative?
    I just feel sorry for all of the working dads who pay for all of the school fees as part of a maintenance agreement and don’t get the benefit of any of this money back from their taxes because it all is paid to the mother.

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    Mute CP
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    Jul 8th 2024, 10:30 AM

    @Fiona Wyse, fair play Fiona,

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    Mute Karen Marten
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    Jul 8th 2024, 11:02 AM

    @Fiona Wyse: are you a parent do you know the cost of. Uniforms fleeces jumpers with crests on them. And only one s that benefit from the free school books is the principals . Still parents. Are asked /expected to pay. €80 +school fees. That is just primary school s and the secondary schools some of the schools that use the tablets parents pay for .

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    Mute Fiona Wyse
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    Jul 9th 2024, 11:17 AM

    @Karen Marten: I’m very aware of the cost of them, my husband has purchased all his children’s tablets, books, uniforms and school fees without any governmental assistance. Two tablets in 2 years, €1,500 and all back to school allowance paid to ex wife. It’s ok for us, we plan and manage that cost between us (it’s tight and we work two jobs) but some men might not have the luxury of having a partner to fall back on and help financially. When there is a maintenance order in place it should go to the primary payer of the school kit, not the mother exclusively as that outlay is removed from them so why should they be paid the benefit. I look forward to your explanation on this one.

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    Mute Karen Marten
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    Jul 10th 2024, 9:48 PM

    @Fiona Wyse some people need financial supports that’s why even those who have jobs. It’s called th cost of living I know what your problem is it’s crystal clear so obvious but I’m not going to get into that

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    Mute Karen Marten
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    Jul 8th 2024, 9:55 AM

    Pity it’s so badly. Means tested so many working parents earning too much to avail but yet need it as uniforms getting more expensive every year.

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    Mute Toyo Ke
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    Jul 8th 2024, 10:13 AM

    @Karen Marten: I don’t agree, I am by anybody standards not a high earner, but if you pay your taxes, you have earned the benefit. Same for children’s allowance. Some can afford to put it straight into savings accounts, which doesn’t appear fair for alot of people, but they paid their taxes.

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    Mute marklars81
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    Jul 8th 2024, 10:25 AM

    @Toyo Ke: I think you do agree. You both seem to be saying it shouldn’t be means tested. I also agree, if you pay your taxes you should get more than a free dental cleaning once a year.

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    Mute Karen Marten
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    Jul 8th 2024, 11:16 AM

    @Toyo Ke: are you for real cop on . How many parents you know have applied for this both working or one working and one a carer getting turned down because earning. €50 too much .

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    Mute Karen Marten
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    Jul 8th 2024, 11:35 AM

    @Toyo Ke: those who can afford to go with out children’s allowance should apply to not receive it . .

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    Mute Karen Marten
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    Jul 8th 2024, 11:38 AM

    @Toyo Ke:

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    Mute marklars81
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    Jul 8th 2024, 2:17 PM

    @Karen Marten: Why? Those who can afford to go without it are paying a lot more tax than you and I.

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    Mute Karen Marten
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    Jul 8th 2024, 2:40 PM

    @marklars81: I agree but if they don’t need it … don’t take it and. Child allowance has nothing to do with paying taxes any baby born In Ireland parent gets it… and children who’s parent is Irish who have moved back here.

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    Mute marklars81
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    Jul 8th 2024, 10:30 AM

    Schools should be made pick colour of slacks/skirt and a colour of jumper/ polo shirt, all plain. Make uniforms actually affordable and let Pennys or Dunnes go for the market. Having to buy a crested jumper is just another way for a school to get more money from parents. Schools shouldn’t need to do this.

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    Mute Karen Marten
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    Jul 8th 2024, 11:08 AM

    @marklars81: no schools should be making us pay for crested but they are . And are advertising for certain school uniform shops to buy them from but there are some options to go cheaper like getting crests done yourself or schools could go with iron on crests either but still.at and of day. Dunnes is not cheap when you have to buy polo’s shirts and the likes it still adds up .

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    Mute Karen Marten
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    Jul 8th 2024, 1:02 PM

    @Karen Marten: should NOT

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    Mute marklars81
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    Jul 8th 2024, 1:54 PM

    @Karen Marten: Dunnes is cheap for school wear, you can get a pack of 3 polos from 5.50. Compare this to the school crested top and you’ll realise it is cheap.
    Can’t really tell if you were agreeing or disagreeing with me to be fair :/

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    Mute Karen Marten
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    Jul 8th 2024, 3:13 PM

    @marklars81: dunes is NOT CHEAP and polo s shirts blouses skirts trousers track bottoms all go up in price depending on age. So I am disagreeing with you that they are not cheap

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    Mute Terence Smith
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    Jul 8th 2024, 11:45 AM

    So back to school allowance, paid meals in school, meals during summer holidays, Christmas bonus, is there anything these ‘parents’ actually get for their own children without relying on the state to raise their children?

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    Mute Karen Marten
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    Jul 8th 2024, 12:28 PM

    @Terence Smith: the school meals is in ALL primary schools now. .

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    Mute liam mc meel
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    Jul 8th 2024, 8:27 AM

    Happy days this is wonderful news

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    Mute Mark R
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    Jul 8th 2024, 9:58 AM

    I could never understand the qualifications for the Back to School allowance. I know of well qualified professionals working for large multinationals who get it. It is supposed to be biased on household income, yet the only way they would qualify is if the main breadwinners earnings are left out of the application…

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    Mute Karen Marten
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    Jul 8th 2024, 10:03 AM

    @Mark R: I have heard from parents who applied but was over the means by €50 combined. Two parent working families struggling to get by with the costs of uniforms getting so expensive and schools making wear crested this and only black shoes and that’s just primary schools .

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    Mute Gearoid MacEachaidh
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    Jul 8th 2024, 12:26 PM

    @Mark R: I can tell you with 100% certainty that no one who is in a well paid job is getting it unless they’re lying in their application, and if they are they will be found out because Revenue and the DSP share info.

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    Mute Karen Marten
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    Jul 8th 2024, 12:37 PM

    @Gearoid MacEachaidh: yes I thought that too if a 2 parent working family struggling can’t get it earning too much ,but then again. There are some people who can work the system. Like the child allowance when not I’m the the country most of the year

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    Mute Gearoid MacEachaidh
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    Jul 8th 2024, 12:53 PM

    @Karen Marten: the only way for these people to “work the system” would be to lie. There was a time where different government departments didn’t talk to each other but those days are gone. Only way to scam is to be getting paid under the table. But if you’re working for a multinational and claiming benefits you’re not entitled to you’ll be caught, and almost certainly wouldn’t get them to begin with since bank statements are required as part of the application

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    Mute john kenny
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    Jul 8th 2024, 8:35 AM

    Good news story.

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    Mute Sun Rise
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    Jul 8th 2024, 10:51 AM

    Stunned that a comment is mocking this payment as a means of garnering votes. I assume that if an alternative government is elected they expect the new government to remove all benefits to everybody. Some people are just ignorant in their need to protest against everything.

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    Mute Karen Marten
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    Jul 8th 2024, 11:10 AM

    @Sun Rise: there are genuine hard working families who are over the means to get this payment and there are those who will always get it and not spend it on the uniforms let’s not sugar coat it !

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