Ahrtal und Braunsbach.
Ahrtal and Braunsbach. A matter close to LEONHARD WEISS' heart
Satteldorf, 29 May 2016. It is Sunday evening, shortly after midnight, when the emergency telephone in Satteldorf receives a call. Heavy rainfall had caused severe flooding in nearby Braunsbach. The village has been destroyed by an avalanche of water and debris. Colleagues immediately set to work on an emergency plan. Some construction sites are closed or on hold – now every helping hand and powerful machine is needed.
When the LEONHARD WEISS team arrives in Braunsbach the next day with crawler excavators, lorries, skips, toilet containers, dixis, generators and support material, it is anything but a normal job. It is more of an aid mission. And the picture the task force sees in the small town will stay with them forever.
Thousands of tonnes of debris piled up in the streets after a landslide. House walls and bridges have been swept away, and cars, tree trunks and furniture can be seen in the rubble. It is a miracle that no one died in the flash flood. But an initial assessment revealed that more than 100 buildings had been badly damaged, and streets and squares in the town centre had been completely destroyed. It took almost a year of clean-up before reconstruction work could begin, which LEONHARD WEISS was commissioned to carry out by the municipality.
LW employees laid water pipes, renewed house connections, installed street lighting and rebuilt roads, pavements and the market square. They are laying supply lines, reinforcing the banks and renewing the bed of the Orlacher Bach – and all of this without interrupting people's daily lives. In order to maintain the water supply, the LW staff drew up a contingency plan. During the three years of the project – from the clean-up to its completion in 2020 – an unforgettable climate of solidarity was created, as well as many friendships with the local population.
We Braunsbachers say goodbye to you with a heavy heart. We shared many beautiful and unforgettable moments. You were never boring. You are a great team and we will surely meet again!
The expertise that LEONHARD WEISS acquired during the clean-up and reconstruction work in Braunsbach was put to good use in 2021 during the hundred-year flood in the Ahr valley. In the night from 14 to 15 July, more than 100 liters of rain per square meter fall – causing flash floods and flooding. At least 135 people die in the disaster on the Ahr alone. The tracks of the Ahr Valley Railway are also completely destroyed over a length of 16 kilometers during the night of the flood.
Shortly after the disaster, several LEONHARD WEISS teams set to work to make a four kilometer section of the line passable again. By November 2021, shuttle services were again possible on one track. Two years later, the reconstruction of the Ahrtalbahn will begin on the section between Walporzheim and Ahrbrück – for which LEONHARD WEISS applied to the DB at an early stage.
With this project, LEONHARD WEISS wants to advance the reconstruction of the region. The Ahr Valley Railway is an important part of the local infrastructure and plays a major role in people's everyday lives, as well as in the economy and tourism. The aim is for the Ahr line to be double-tracked and electrified by the end of 2025. Many bridges and crossings, which were destroyed during the night of the flood, will be rebuilt and made flood-safe. In addition, extensive hydraulic engineering work is required to restore the original course of the Ahr. LEONHARD WEISS will start the reconstruction with full force in September 2023.