Life After the Flood – Hope for Aid Money – News

In the opposite house, the reconstruction fund is also a problem: Waltraud and Günter Groten made an appointment with the city for support in the application. But when they got to Town Hall, they were disappointed: “We thought you had all the documents ready, someone would be there to record everything and then you’d eventually get a message,” says Waltraud Groten. Instead, they could have been told that wasn’t possible.

The city counseling center was not helpful to those affected

“For legal reasons, they are not allowed to enter by themselves, we were told. That is why we must sit in front of the computer, where we have not sat before, and enter it.” The Grotens, 79 and 80, return home without achieving anything–disillusioned and disappointed. Now her son takes care of the app.

The Groten family is also dependent on financial assistance. They demolished the ground floor with the help of many volunteers, there is already a new screed, the living room was covered with wallpaper for a few days. Günther Groten is still overwhelmed with the help of several volunteers: “The assistants came from the Stuttgart region. They plastered the walls, plastered them with wallpaper, painted them.” They say that without this help, they would have given up long ago.

More and more damage is visible

Because there are always new unpleasant surprises. In the kitchen, oil damage became apparent in the wall. From the house next door, heating oil penetrated the walls with the flood. Günter Groten hopes he can also control this damage. But it will be some time before he and his wife can return to live in them. Both hope to return home at Christmas.

Until then, they still have a lot of work to do. Immediately behind Grotens Park is the ledge where the tide tore the land. “Our old lives have swam away, it’s right there in the hole,” Waltraud Groten says. “We had a full life, we had peace, we wanted to enjoy it, but now it’s turbulent.” She still wakes up several times a night.

Troubled nights, waiting for raindrops

Her neighbor, Maria Dunkel, also suffered many sleepless nights. Homecoming brought back many memories: “You listen to every noise, you pay attention to cracks, you wait for raindrops.” As happy as her husband is to be back home again – Ulrich Dunkel says he will never forget what he lived through when many houses across the street disappeared due to the flood: “All you have to do is look out the window outside. Especially when the houses have disappeared, the photo – You take it with you to your grave, you can’t turn it off.”