In July 2021, German Ahr-Valley was hit by an unprecedented flash flood with hundreds dead or missing and
entire villages beinged wiped from the landscape. We spontaneously decided to support with manpower an
equipment.
To reach places that - 10 days after the desaster - were still not reachable via street, we prepared our
offroad vehicles and Quad. Mayschoss was said to be reachable ONLY via vineyards and small vehicles.
Stowing took place and we decided to bring our RV along as homebase. In Ahr Valley no water, electrical
energy or accomodation was available so, the RV was to act as homebase at safe distance.
Project details and scope of services
We decided to bring along a
hydraulically operated submersible Pump from DYNASET
to empty flooded cellars and buildings. Everything required at Mayschoss can ONLY be brought there via one
small path, suitable for Quads, only.
We'd like to especially thank our long-year
Partner DYNASET, wo sent the pump HSP600 via Express at own expenses and furthermore provided a substantial rebate to
support our mission!
Furthermore many thanks to Fritz Kast from
Schlauchfuxx in Möttingen, who manufactured the required hoses
free of charge to support us!
Our
Quad can operate the HSP600 directly from its
hydraulic PTO and provide 600 Litres per Minute at a pump head of 5m. The
Hydraulics and PTO
of the vehicle include a control valve and QD-FF-couplings to make work easy. Given the extreme offrad
capabilities, this vehicle can reach almost any location.
Pump etc. are easily stored in the HD carrier rack:
We decided to go fro 6m of fixed mounted hydraulic hoses, expandable vie QD coulpings very easy, if longer
reach is required:
To test the system we emptied a rain barrel in our garden, containing 300l of water. The water hose was 10m
long.
Works well!
Even with the Quad engine in idle - having the pump run at only 50% of its power - a tremendous amount of
water was pouring out of the 2" hose.
Raising RPM with manual throttle control, the rain barrel was emptied in seconds.
What we encountered on-site is a different story - read what's next: After we reached the region we spent
the night in Gelsdorf and approached our on-site contact person, asking for detailed information. We were
then diverted to Dernau and given the name of a local contact to forward us. We were able to offer manpower,
chainsaws, recovery winches and submersible pumping.
As we approached Dernau, we could get a picture of the Ahr Valley from above:
The desaster was flooding the entire valley. I did mark the level of flooding that occurred during the high
rise of the Ahr river - yu cannot imagine this:
The next picture shows the bridge and sawmill plus the rbbish collection site - the former train station
that was wiped away. The bridge is one of two that survived the flood, leaving 16 other bridges being
tortally destroyed.
To reach the sawmill we needed to cross the Ahr river. This took us 1 hour to fin the bridge, hidden behind
rubble and no road leading to. There are no more roads!
At Dernau, we were sent to two houses with fuel oil and water still in the cellar. The problem was that,
there was no tank to store this toxic mix. Our pump would have done the job with ease but, you cannot simply
spill out the liquids. Below picture is from the central road in Dernau. twisted metal everywhere.
Dernau was in a state of devastation. We were focussed on driving, no photographs. Houses were flooded up to
2nd floor. Whatever you see here is totally ruined.
Even at higher levels water was present. The red line indicates the level, more than 100m away from Ahr
river on an elevated part of the village!
As we saw that, pumping was not an option we changed our initial plan. Help was needed everywhere so, we
were diverted to a sawmill.
The bridge we used to cross the Ahr river:
It's a very old stone bridge, 12 ton capability. During the flood the bridge was entirely submerged. Logs in
front have been cut to free the way to the sawmill. Inside the sawmill further desaster - pictured after 10
days of ongoing cleanup operations!
The steel beams in the background were twisted like straws. Mud was a 10cm thick layer everywhere. We took
shovels and started cleaning the machinery hall entrance. Water was up to the roof, raising 12m above
standard river level!
We did film the return through the rubbish dump. It doubled size over one day!
At the end we were done. Dernau and all the other villages will require help for a long time - any help is
highly appreciated!
As stated, we only had a submersible pumpe with us. But a hydraulic PTO at a Qaud / ATV is capable of so
much more, when thinking of desaster relief or firefighting operations:
High Pressure firefighting spray guns
Hydraulic recovery eyquipment
Firepumps
etc.
Everything stored, transported and operated by a highly mobile and versatile offroad vehicle that can reach
places inaccessible to others!
Interested? Just contact us, we will be pleased to demonstrate the
capabilities of such a vehicle!
