Up to 80,000 euros

Wachau rockslide: financial aid for Heurigen & Co.

The investigations into the rockslide in Aggsbach-Dorf are still ongoing.

(Bild: NÖ Straßendienst)

Following the devastating mudslide just over a month ago, the panoramic road through the Wachau and the adjacent cycle path are still closed. As reported in the "Krone", regional leisure businesses already feared a serious drop in turnover. They are now receiving financial help from the state of Lower Austria.

"We are aware that the closure of the B33 is a serious blow for the entire region, for the businesses, for tourism and for the citizens who are affected by the closure every day. It is a difficult situation for everyone. Our task now is to solve the problem," says Udo Landbauer (FPÖ), the provincial deputy responsible for road services.

Province puts all cards on the table
According to the politician, the rockfall that buried the Aggsteiner Straße is nothing less than a natural disaster. The rapid reaction of the road service employees had also prevented worse. They had immediately closed the section shortly after the end of Aggsbach-Dorf after the first stray debris. A few minutes later, the devastating mudslide broke loose.

Work is progressing slowly but steadily
The road service officers and a specialist company have already spent almost 4,000 working hours examining the masses of debris in detail. After all, despite the urgent need to reopen the important route to traffic as quickly as possible, safety comes first. "We're talking about several thousand cubic meters of rock that have tumbled down the steep slope as an avalanche into the Danube," says Landbauer.

Enormous masses of rock

According to estimates, around 6,000 m³ of rock weighing around 12,000 tons fell over the B33. Individual blocks weigh up to 100 tons and will probably have to be blasted before they can be removed. According to initial calculations, around 800 truck journeys will be necessary to clear the site.

The work itself is extremely difficult because the workers can only access the slope using ropes and safety equipment. Some of the mass of the fall has also remained in the fall path. With a gradient of up to 80 degrees in the upper part of the slope, extreme caution is required

The area has now been divided into three sections: The immediate area of the rockfall, which is being flown over with drones to create initial terrain models. Geologists are also creating precise maps of the rock face and have taken hundreds of measurements. The aim of this work was to secure the edge of the collapse by clearing loose pieces of rock in order to defuse the danger zone and to enable further measures to be planned following a detailed geological and geotechnical assessment.

Based on the current geological assessment, the all-clear cannot yet be given: The mass of debris left on the slope is extremely unstable and at risk of falling.

(Bild: NÖ Straßendienst)

Danger has not yet been averted
The second section is located downstream to the north of the rockfall. This has been secured and climbed over by the road service since June 17. In the third section in the direction of Aggsbach-Dorf, explorations have already taken place through the affectionately christened "Felspartie". However, this area still harbors great potential for danger.

Safety is the top priority
This also means that the remaining blocks on the slope must be completely cleared in order to ensure safe working conditions. Safe working is only possible from the top down. The actual scope of the necessary measures will only be available once the project for the technical safety measures has been completed and cannot yet be estimated.

The rockfall is an extraordinary natural event that has caused massive economic damage to this small region and at the worst possible time.

Landeshauptfrau Johann Mikl-Leitner

Bild: APA/TOBIAS STEINMAURER

At the start of the economically vital summer season, another of the region's tourist lifelines, the Danube Cycle Path, is blocked as well as the main road. "Since the first day of this natural disaster, everyone in the state has been working on finding a solution to this challenge. For us in Lower Austria, one thing is clear: in situations like this, we stand together, we stand up for each other," said Governor Johanna Mikl-Leitner, not wanting to leave the regional entrepreneurs to fend for themselves.

Mikl-Leitner and Landbauer want to help those affected in the Wachau region "quickly, specifically and together".

(Bild: NLK/Gerhard Pfeffer)

Uncertainty weighs on tourism businesses
The state reacted immediately, and since the start of the vacations a bus has been taking cyclists to Geyersberg so that they don't have to tackle too steep an incline by bike. A service that has been very well received. The DDSG also offers an on-demand stop in Aggsbach-Dorf to transport guests by boat. Preparations are also underway for a ferry service. Detailed signage and targeted advertising on the Internet are also intended to allay tourists' reservations.

Despite these measures and the fact that "the Wachau is one of the most beautiful and safest vacation regions in the world", Mikl-Leitner also assumes that many businesses will face a massive drop in income as a result of the rockslide.

Special funding equal to losses from
Accommodation and catering businesses, wine taverns and wine taverns in the cadastral municipalities of Hub, Schönbühel an der Donau, on the south bank of Aggsbach, Aggstein, Oberarnsdorf, Mitterarnsdorf, Rührsdorf and Rossatz can apply for special funding.

Details on funding

Prerequisite is a reduction in the operating result by 40 percent. They will then receive 40 percent of this reduction, up to a maximum of 80,000 euros per business until the end of the closure of the cycle path and panoramic road.

• The funding can be applied for from January 2025 (retroactively for the months of June-December 2024).
• The funding will be paid out within two months.

In addition, we are helping the affected companies with short-term liquidity bottlenecks with a working capital guarantee via NÖBEG.

The Lower Austrian Chamber of Commerce is also making its contribution with a livelihood security grant of up to 11,000 euros.

The Governor emphasizes that this is intended to provide "quick, targeted and joint" help. And: "I know the situation is not easy, but our businesses, our fellow countrymen and guests can rely on the state." She also wants to motivate the state's organizations to hold training courses and events in the coming months, especially in the affected businesses. A cultural event focusing on apricots is also to be held in Aggstein at the end of July. And so normal life will return to the Wachau.