As we continue on in the series on the Sturmflut that devastated much of Schleswig-Holstein, I would like to show you one of the hardest hit areas. Gelting Birk is a peninsula located north of Nieby and 20 kilometers NW of the nearest city of Kappeln. It’s located in the district of Schleswig-Flensburg. The Birk features 773 hectares of natural habitat, of which approximately 260 hectares of land is below sea level, making it one of the largest pieces of land that is below sea level in Germany. The region has a bay, and a mixture of moors, forests, salt fields, lagoons and sand dunes. Apart from swimming areas, the Birk as a lighthouse at Falsfoft (see picture above), a couple small villages and the state’s only covered bridge.
NDR did a documentary on this pristine region a few years ago and we would like to show you what the region looked like prior to the flood. A second video shows you how it was affected by the Sturmflut on October 20-21. While dikes had kept much of the water out since the 15th Century, this once in a century flood caused breeches in some areas and overwhelmed others. It has led to residents and local officials to look at ways to ensure it never happens again. If you have some ideas, there is a link that will take you to a group page and you can make your suggestions there.
For now, take a look at the two videos beginning with the one before the event:
Video:
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Video of the Aftermath:
The structure in the foreground of the second video is the covered bridge, which survived the floods but the roadway and approaches will need to be rebuilt. That however is just the tip of the iceberg.
If you want to help those affected here, there are some links where you can click on and they will take you to the respective sites. One of the links has a facebook group page on there that is dedicated strictly to this theme.
Helping Residents Affected by the Storm: Sturmflut: Donation Drives for Flensburg Fjord, Holnis and Kappeln
Go Fund Me has a series of fundraising drives underway as well. A link is enclosed for you to click on to help: Go Fund Me: https://www.gofundme.com/de-de/c/act/sturmflut-an-der-ostsee-wie-du-helfen-kannst#/
The list is getting longer and there will be more opportunities to come to help rebuild areas like Gelting Birk. Stay tuned to the Files as we will keep you posted.
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THE FLENSBURG FILES 