It’s like a miracle. Martin Kalin, father of two, escaped the rubble avalanche in the Carinthian valley at the last minute. In the “Krone” interview, he describes the stormy night that took away his family’s belongings.
On the night of June 29, Kalin and Marilyn Ehrenreich were awakened from their sleep. “At 2 a.m., we heard the first mudslide,” says the family’s father, describing the terrifying hours of the desert storm disaster. Initially, the home of the young family was spared.
Chunks of stone torn from the front door
“We thought we were getting off lightly,” says his partner. But what the couple and their two daughters had to go through then will accompany them for the rest of their lives. “All of a sudden the house started shaking and I knew immediately that something was going to happen,” says the 36-year-old father. He immediately sent his Marilyn upstairs to the children.
“Just a few seconds after I closed the front door, I heard a terrible bang and a rock tore out the entire front door,” says the 36-year-old clearly marked: “Then I fled to the first floor.”
“Mom, do we have to die?”
At about 2:30 a.m., another mudslide thundered toward the house, burying it up to the first floor, where the family waited in fear of death. “At one point my daughter asked me if we should die now. Then I said: Lea, I don’t know,” Marilyn says through tears.
Finally, at 5 a.m., the family managed to leave the house and climb over the rubble to get to safety.
Fear is always present
The house has since been cleared of most of the debris. It will be a while before the family can return to their own four walls. What remains is the fear of new storms. And the financial burden is overwhelming.
Children have nightmares
“We sleep with one child each. I noticed that my seven-year-old daughter keeps having nightmares at night,” says Kalin in an interview with “Krone”. The psychological situation is also very stressful for both parents, but: “You just have to function. We have no other choice.”
Source: Krone
I am Ida Scott, a journalist and content author with a passion for uncovering the truth. I have been writing professionally for Today Times Live since 2020 and specialize in political news. My career began when I was just 17; I had already developed a knack for research and an eye for detail which made me stand out from my peers.
