TIROLER TAGESZEITUNG "Editorial" edition of August 30, 2023, by Jasmine Hrdina: "Water always finds a way"

2023-08-29 22:35:45

Innsbruck (OTS) – Almost exactly 18 years to the day after the last flood, the Lower Lower Inn Valley narrowly avoided a catastrophe. The protective building on the Inn that was promised at the time will not come until 2038 at the earliest. A farce.

The flood on Tuesday in Tyrol was far from over. Luckily, the expected 100-year flood did not materialize in the lowlands. The water masses had already violently created space in the upper reaches and in the side valleys. Fields were flooded, roads washed away and ripped away, hillsides murmured. Every lull in the rain gave more hope downriver. And there was no catastrophe like 2005, at least in the Lower Lower Inn Valley. still this time.
But the heavy rain events are increasing and the possibilities for the communities to counteract them with mobile protection elements on site are limited. The protective measures on the Inn could be completed by 2038 at the earliest, the water association for flood protection in the lower Lower Inn Valley recently announced. A farce for those affected. Dams and retention areas have been promised for 18 years. A period of time that would be unthinkable for other major projects in Tyrol, whether ski lifts, railway tracks or power plants.
The political pressure from the communities was absent and still is. It was easy for the federal and state governments to pass on the responsibility to the communities along the Inn. The water association’s negotiations with landowners for retention areas and dams stalled. Most of this is agricultural land or undesignated grassland in the Red Zone. It is the water masses that those responsible should be afraid of, not the farmers. These are compensated with 25 million euros for 291 hectares of land. In the event of damage (in the case of flooding), additional money flows from the public purse. A side note: During hundred-year floods, most of these pastures and fields are flooded anyway and made unusable by contamination.
While the negotiations are ongoing, the project is to be submitted for examination before the end of this year. Meanwhile, it is irresponsible and reprehensible to suggest to citizens that communities are armed thanks to mobile protective elements. 500 firefighters alone were busy filling sandbags and screwing boards together in the Kufstein district on Monday. Tirelessly, gratuitously and at risk of their own safety. The applause that politicians give them is well deserved – but where is the outcry? It doesn’t get any clearer than in the past two days: water always finds a way – whether it’s directed and with predictable damage in defined areas or violently with unforeseeable consequences.