“Wake up the children and come with me. The water is coming” – the request from the Mauerkirchen fire brigade came when people in Upper Austria, including the settlement of Mitterbrunning, were sure that the flooding was almost over. But the rain clouds had opened again, in Walding the Rodl, in Feldkirchen/D. the Pesenbach and in Mauerkirchen the Brunnbach and a nearby retention basin overflowed.
“The water was rising every minute. The fire brigade came, told us to get out and ten minutes later they said again: ‘Really now!’” says Astrid Dengler, who fled with her son. She had lost her husband four years ago and had renovated the house: “I actually wanted to do the garden now. Luckily I haven’t done it yet” – eventually: “It’s funny how you think about it.” She is now going to “clean up the bungalow from front to back”.
Her neighbor Danijela Stanojevic and her family were stacking soaked furniture and breaking things in front of the house when the “Krone” team came to inspect the settlement of 20 houses in calf-high water. “The fire department brought us through the window on a pallet with a forklift,” reports the Mauerkirchen resident, who was helped by neighbors.
“We didn’t sleep much”
“We weren’t allowed to stay in the house either, we didn’t sleep much. Because we didn’t know what would happen when we got home,” says Peter Maier, whose house stayed dry and now went outside with a mop to help the neighbors. When Fatka Kadusic showed the “Krone” in the house what the flood had left behind, the water on the street had already disappeared. Her two children, Alina (4) and Eldin (6), were brought to safety in a wheelbarrow by the helpers.
“Thank you very much”
“The water receded almost as quickly as it came,” said Bernhard Buchecker, FF commander in Mauerkirchen. All sixty victims praised him and his comrades: “The emergency services did everything they could, thank you very much.”
“There used to be a field here”
An older Mauerkirchner, who knew the area before the settlement was built a few years ago, said thoughtfully: “There used to be a field here with a flood drain. But it was built on when the new houses came.”
Source: Krone
I am Wallace Jones, an experienced journalist. I specialize in writing for the world section of Today Times Live. With over a decade of experience, I have developed an eye for detail when it comes to reporting on local and global stories. My passion lies in uncovering the truth through my investigative skills and creating thought-provoking content that resonates with readers worldwide.
