Huge damage

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Neudau was under water on Sunday.

(Bild: BFVHB/Matthias Novacek)

In the Hartberg region, the clean-up after the "flood of the century" at the weekend continues. The municipality of Neudau has also been badly affected. Outdoor pool, nursing home, crèche: everything destroyed. The mayor is hoping for financial help - and is annoyed with the district capital.

At the end of the conversation, he mentions it almost in passing: Wolfgang Dolesch, mayor of Neudau and member of the provincial parliament, is himself a victim of the storm. Water penetrated his terraced house, the floor on the ground floor was destroyed and now his family will probably have to move out for months. 

Many people in Neudau and the entire region up to Wechselland feel the same way as Dolesch. "We are in the middle of surveying all the damage. New reports from private individuals are coming in all the time," says Dolesch, who, after a tour with district governor Kerstin Raith-Schweighofer on Wednesday, says: "The situation is under control, the solidarity among the population is great."

Mayor Wolfgang Dolesch is himself a victim of the storm.

(Bild: Jauschowetz Christian/Christian Jauschowetz)

Outdoor pool season is canceled
However, mammoth tasks await Neudau: the outdoor pool will certainly not be able to open this year, and the crèche is also closed - from Monday there will be alternative places for the little ones: in kindergarten, with day-care providers and also grandparents. All the machinery at important businesses in the village has been destroyed and the future is uncertain. 

When everything is over, the municipality will certainly invite all helpers. We are so grateful.

Bürgermeister Wolfgang Dolesch

Who will pay for the millions in damage? "The municipalities won't be able to do it alone. The money from the disaster fund won't be enough," says Dolesch. He is convinced that the state will need to make large allocations or provide money from other sources.

Great anger at the town of Hartberg
What is really annoying the otherwise level-headed mayor these days is the district capital of Hartberg: the 40 residents and staff of the Neudau senior citizens' center are now all housed in Haus Menda in Hartberg. "And the first thing Hartberg does is register the residents as principal residences. This means we receive less revenue share, even though we need every penny. That's very unfriendly!"

Clean-up work will take days
Not only in Neudau, but in many communities in Hartberg-Fürstenfeld, the clean-up work has still not been completed. "We have to remove mud and debris before everything dries out," reports fire department spokesperson Matthias Novacek. There are repeated landslides, and only on Tuesday a house had to be evacuated. "The work will take a few more days."

Facts

By Tuesday evening, 2020 fire fighters from almost every fire department area in Styria had been deployed in the Hartberg fire department area. The members came from 143 fire services. 400 vehicles were deployed. More than 5000 so-called damage situations were dealt with.

Novacek speaks of a "flood of the century" in many places. The Lafnitz and Lungitzbach rivers in particular turned into raging torrents. It was also the longest disaster operation in the history of the regional fire brigade association. "Some firefighters were on duty for almost 96 hours," says Novacek, who himself only returned to work on Wednesday after days with far too little sleep.