Five years after the flood, Blessem residents recall the night the earth opened up

The night of the flood

On 14 July 2021, heavy rain pounded Erftstadt-Blessem all day. The Erft river burst its banks and water poured into the village. Andreas Negro, co-owner of Burg Blessem, remembers the strange sounds that preceded the disaster.

It sounded really creepy. But at first you couldn't place it.

At 3 a.m. the fire brigade ordered an evacuation. The rain had stopped, but water kept coming from all directions. A gravel pit collapsed, triggering a landslide that swallowed several houses and a large part of the Burg Blessem estate, where Negro lived.

The riding stable stood here and my brother-in-law's house there – suddenly it was all gone.

The crater and its aftermath

The full scale of the destruction emerged only gradually. Gerd Schiffer, reconstruction coordinator for Erftstadt, said eight houses on Radmacherstraße near the crater were beyond saving. The B265 federal highway was washed away with cars on it, yet miraculously no one died there.

The full extent of the flood only became visible gradually.

Across the region, more than 180 people lost their lives in the century flood, 49 of them in North Rhine-Westphalia. Whole swathes of land were devastated. After a week, most Blessem residents could return home, except those living directly on the crater's edge, where the risk of further landslides persisted.

Personal loss and small mercies

When Negro was briefly allowed back into his home to collect belongings, he moved with purpose. He had planned exactly what to take: photos of his late wife and other mementos.

I thought beforehand about what I wanted to take and packed exactly that – above all photos of my late wife and other mementos.

Recovery and community

Within about three months, the roads in the village were repaired. In Advent 2021, villagers gathered at the crater's edge and sang Christmas carols. Schiffer called those moments unforgettable. Erftstadt received €84 million from a federal and state flood relief fund to rebuild infrastructure and public buildings.

Volunteers from across Germany travelled to the flood zone to help. Negro recalled a group of young people who cleaned his basement with a steam jet, simply because they wanted to.

That help carried us tremendously.

The renovation of residential buildings took two years. Floors had to be ripped out, walls rebuilt.

Five years on

Today, the crater remains a visible scar, but the community has rebuilt. Negro still hears those eerie sounds in his memory. The disaster, he says, brought fundamental changes.