2023-09-06 11:34:23
The lurid power of nature turned the idyll into a stony sea. Since then, people have been digging like crazy. A PN local inspection with building yard manager Thomas Daum, mayor Peter Loitfellner and disaster officer Manfred Höger
There is anything but a gold rush atmosphere. Mayor Peter Loitfellner (SPÖ) stood last Friday with a worried expression in the mud of the murky gold panning plant and said: “You can see the extent of this catastrophe of the century. In addition to the entire municipal infrastructure that has broken down – roads, canals, electricity – it is only now becoming apparent what destroyed it at a tourist facility.” This applies to the badly damaged gold panning plant as well as destroyed hiking trails and the winter cross-country skiing offer, because many temporary bridges have been swept away. Not to mention the agricultural areas, which sometimes resemble a sea of stone. “It’s all desperate, but we’ll make it together,” says the mayor, feeling optimistic. The most important thing anyway is that the storm disaster did not claim any lives. “Thank God our flood protection dam, which has been in place since 2008, has prevented much worse. Without it, many houses along the Rauriser Ache would have been completely destroyed.” But how quickly the pool was full, that gives you something to think regarding. “There is space for around 750,000 cubic meters. It was said that heavy rain might pass following two to three days. Now that was the case following a few hours.”
It’s being excavated at full speed
Dozens of excavators and construction machines have been in use along the Rauriser Ache for days. “The most important thing now is to restore the infrastructure first and then to start repairing the tourist attractions at the same time. We are a tourist community. We are required to rebuild everything. We will be dependent on a lot of aid for this. Alone we can’t handle it.”
The Rauris building yard manager Thomas Daum can hardly believe what he has in mind at the end of the Kolm-Saigurn valley: “Here was a pasture area, all full of horses and cattle – they too are running out of space now.” The temporary road that is being built will probably have to mutate into a permanent solution: “The area is just so buried.”
“Immense Traces of Devastation”
In the same place, the Pinzgau disaster officer Manfred Höger said to the PN: “The immense traces of the devastation here show that it was a tremendous rainfall event, an extent of damage that has not been imagined in this form for decades.” In dealing with the disaster, however, one might build on a “well-established team”: “There is perfect cooperation between the individual blue light organizations, the torrent and avalanche control and the market town of Rauris.” The use of the Libelle police helicopter was also initially important, whether for evacuating trapped people or for documentation purposes.
The magnitude of the catastrophe was evident from above
Gebhard Neumayr was on a flight. He described his impressions from above as follows on Thursday last week: “There are some massive faults in the Rauriser Ache, it looks like a lunar landscape. Hundreds of meters of road were torn away. The road near Kolm-Saigurn has to be completely remade, there is everything destroyed.” Neumayr went into more detail: “Above Kolm-Saigurn, below Lake Pilatus, lies the Pilatuskar. This was eroded by the water masses draining away 70 to 100 meters deep, a completely new dimension even for me on this scale. I am convinced that the thawing of the permafrost is to blame. We’ll certainly have to continue to monitor this closely.”
In Kolm-Saigurn, an area of 24 hectares, mostly agricultural land, was mudslide. That corresponds to around 24 football pitches. Some of the debris from the Pilatuskar came to a height of several meters. “Fortunately, main residences in the valley or the Naturfreundehaus and the Hotel Ammerer were not and are not endangered, although there are still tons of material on the mountain that might be transported down into the valley in future storms,” said Gebhard Neumayr last week.
“Peter, now it’s working”
A laser scan flight was scheduled for this week to gain new insights. Overall, a lot is still uncertain. For example, how many and which financial chunks are in the way following the immediate disaster measures. “Regional Councilor Sepp Schwaiger explained to me during his visit: ‘Peter, let’s do it’,” says Mayor Loitfellner. You wouldn’t leave the Raurisers out in the rain.
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