Largest evacuation since 1945 Cologne converted into ghost town – Diepresse.com

Empty roads, closed shops and an abandoned RTL broadcast center: The Cologne City has turned into a ghost town since 1945. More than 20,000 people had to leave their apartments. Because in the evening, three American bombs from the Second World War are to be defused on the Rheinrufer in the Deutz district.

The authorities have drawn a safety radius of 1,000 meters around the site. The announcement is: This area must be deserted before the bombs can be defused. When the time comes, only two experts in ordnance disposal should be in the entire evacuation zone.

Everything is delayed by a opposing resort

In the end, a single person in the old town ensured that the process was somewhat delayed. The person opposed the evacuation, said a city spokesman. The regulatory office, the police and fire brigade then initiated compulsory measures to get the person out of their apartment. After that, the release could be granted for defusing.

Before that, the evacuation measures were based on plan. Three central bridges were also closed to traffic. How long the bombing on the banks of the Rhein then ultimately last is not foreseeable. For each of the three bombs, at least half an hour should be calculated – no complications should occur.

The most densely populated inner city of Europe empties

Road barriers have been built around the restricted area since morning. Employees of the regulatory office went around and checked whether everything was really empty. Street for street, house around house. A whole piece of work, because according to Ralf Mayer, the Cologne city center, head of the regulatory office, is most densely populated throughout Europe.

For the first time, the fire brigade used a drone with a camera to observe whether people are in the evacuation zone. The drone is also equipped with a thermal imaging camera and a loudspeaker, said a spokesman.

There is a hospital in the restricted zone, two old people’s and nursing homes, many museums and the television station RTL: instead, it is now temporarily sending from the Cologne-Ossendorf outskirts and from Berlin. The Lanxess-Arena has published a appearance by the comedian Tedros « Teddy » Teclebrhan on Sunday, the Philharmonie canceled a concert by the WDR symphony orchestra.

At least couples who wanted to get married in the historic town hall did not have to cancel their wedding – however, the wedding ceremony is now taking place in the less glamorous porz. Standing official Manuela Beilmann knows how to make the new place tasty for the couples: « Here is the only durable where you can get married directly on the Rhine – with a view of the cathedral, » she enthuses in the WDR.

Finally no parking shortage

8:00 a.m., Deutz district: In exceptional cases, there is no parking space in the right bank of the Rhine. Many residents have driven to families or friends outside the restricted zone – often with emergency luggage in the trunk, because when they back into their apartments, nobody can tell them. « My husband goes to work, our son goes to friends after school, and I drive to my parents, » says a Deutzer who is just pulling the front door behind. « If there is no other way, we can stay there. »

At lantern posts, signs show the way to collecting places, of which a shuttle service people who cannot stay elsewhere will bring to collecting points. On social media, some restaurants nearby advertise people who cannot go home: « Coffee machine is on and home office you can do with us too, » writes a café owner. An allotment owner offers « a place to linger, even with a dog ».

The blocking of the center of the fourth largest city in Germany with a total of 1.1 million inhabitants radiates far into the surrounding area. The main train station is not in the evacuation area, but the Hohenzollern Bridge, which is attributable to it, is the most used German railway bridge. Personal trains may continue to drive over the bridge after 8 a.m., but do not stop at Cologne Messe/Deutz. The Hohenzollernbrücke should be blocked with the start of the defusing – then the main train station becomes temporarily to the head station. Shipping on the Rhine also has to pause temporarily. Even airspace is blocked.

2,000 bombs are found in NRW annually

Even after more than 80 years, the Second World War still worked into everyday life. Throughout North Rhine-Westphalia, 1,500 to 2,000 bombs from the Second World War would be found every year, as well as about 200 per year of the big calibers, as now in Cologne, said Kai Kenschenswski, department for disposal for ordnance at the Düsseldorf district government, in the WDR « Morgenecho ».

Cologne was one of the most bombarded cities of the Second World War. The lonely black cathedral in the middle of a complete rubble desert became a symbol of the destruction of the war far beyond the city. And so it is probably not unimportant for the Cologne team on this day that their beloved cathedral is just outside the restricted zone. Tourists and residents can continue to light a candle there. (APA/dpa) –