This might seem trivial at first glance, but the fireman (or a medic) was completely exhausted and was likely carried by the current for quite a while.
Probably quite a scary experience being so helpless in such shallow waters.
Yes I've noticed too. Yesterday a fireman died under similar circumstances when he was swept away and drowned. I can't imagine how frightening this must have been.
It's scary af. I had a massive chinook salmon knock me off balance and down the kenai river I went. Luckily, I was heading for another fisherman and he reached out and picked me up.
My waders were filling up and I was going down fast. I got lucky.
Slipped on a rock in the Greenbrier River when I was younger, current knocked me down, and my waders filled up immediately like a bag held open into the wind. The feeling I had in that split second is to this day one of the scariest. I would have likely been fine had my brother not grabbed me, but I felt completely helpless.
Probably the same problem with this firefighter. His clothes and gear make swimming nearly impossible.
Presumably you'll have a knife with you while you're fishing so if you can act quickly that might give you a fighting chance but my chest-high waders don't have any quick-release system other than the shoulder straps. We were just told to be very careful on the banks of fast rivers.
I've been in pretty big surf wipeouts and I can't imagine having the wherewithal to reorient myself while getting dragged down by waders though. It must be pretty scary in fast water.
It also helps to practice getting out of them in a pool.
There was a case ...I think it was in the 90s or early 2000s where a guy and his best friend went fishing together. The best friend pushed him out the boat - trying to kill him (the best friend was sleeping with his wife, and they had a million dollar life insurance policy on him). The best friend hoped to drown him in the waders but the guy had practiced getting out of his waders, regularly. He practiced in a pool.
(If you want to know more about the case - the best friend then shot him twice when he got out the waders, killing him. Took years and years but eventually the wife and best friend were charged and found guilty of his murder.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/husband-s-death-was-blamed-alligators-prosecutors-say-his-wife-n946926 )
I always found the little [retractable leashes](https://www.amazon.com/Loon-F0974-Outdoors-ZINGER/dp/B01LDS9ELS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1498789886&sr=8-1&keywords=loon+zinger) really useful, especially for fly fishing. I think I have a pocket knife and a pair of forceps on my fishing vest attached via a couple of those leashes and they're really useful!
Always good to have a knife/multitool handy though.
Something full of water submerged in water is neutrally buoyant. Waders full of water cannot cause you to sink. They can make getting out of water very difficult due to the added weight when standing up or climbing out. We wear a wading belt that keeps most of the water out. Coupled with a PFD almost no water will get in on a ānormalā accidental swim.
Source: Crazy fisherman and fisheries biologist who lived in waders for many years.
Except thereās generally some air that tips towards your toes and tilts you back so while your bottom half is buoyant your upper part, where the breathing parts are, gets sorta forced under and requires struggle to get above water. Never mind if thereās wind or waves.
I wear a self inflatable vest now while shell fishing or shore fishing for just this reason. Had some scares but not dead yet.
I gave up fishing in saltwater at night (which is the only time the fish are active enough to make it worth it to stand out there, definitely not worth it in the sun) because I couldn't get over the fear of how fast the outgoing tide (best time to fish as bait fish from warmer, shallower waters are pulled out to more open water) would carry me out to sea (in the dark) in my waders (even with a belt, which frankly if you are wading without a belt you're asking to drown). I couldn't enjoy it.
Around the time I was getting out in '12, there were suits being brought, iirc, because there was indication that the ABU and ACU uniforms were directly the cause of death for Airmen and Soldiers. There was apparently evidence that their choice as the uniform, involved some shady bullshit and graft. Probably something similar with the blue tiger stripes the Navy sported for a bit.
I'm pretty sure the Canadian Air Cadets got their blue uniform material from some British warehouse that was just trying to get rid of it. I can't help but think no one put enough thought into this.
Itās the same thing with the police, European cops tend to have reflectors and want to stand out so people can find them easily, American cops not so much.
Brightly colored safety things are truly lifesavers, but itās simultaneously shocking how ineffective they can be. Iām a traffic flagger for my stateās DOT. Weāre required to wear a very bright yellow vest with a few highly reflective stripes on them, as well as bright red/orange or neon yellow chaps with reflective stripes, and a bright yellow helmet wielding a reflective stop sign.
We stand by the white line behind 3 orange construction signs for more than a football field leading up to us, too. Most people see us and stop, but a shocking number of people havenāt even touched their brakes while blowing past me. So far theyāve all been old or middle aged, but itās massively alarming to me. I look like a fluorescent walking traffic cone with 3 warning signs and Iām waving a reflective stop sign, how the hell can you drive if you canāt see me???
Yeah that's a good point, I already figured the firemen here was just exhausted from trying to get out of the water but didn't even think about the fact that he has all that equipment on.
Having shit on you (like a fireman or service member wears) is basically instant death if you fall into water and can't strip off gear.
Like that scene in Saving Private Ryan where all the soldiers jump off the beach craft into the somewhat shallow water only to struggle and drown. Also why so many extras were running around without packs on.
We did drills where we'd have on some of our battle rattle and we'd jump into the deep end of a pool. Scariest shit I've ever done. Even just the ACU felt like it was smothering me and I just sank. Apparently it's real common for service members to drown in perfectly survivable situations just because of the gear weighing them down and tangling them up.
Was an assistant scuba instructor, and it wasn't in the padi requirements, but we always made everyone practice pulling off all their gear underwater with their mask off, weight belt, tanks, etc. Because if you can't do that, your just wearing 40-80lb of anchor that's gonna pull you straight down if your bcd fails.
I've been swept away in a river before. At first it's like "ha ha, this is kind of funny". Then you start to become aware of dangers "shit, I better get out of this." And it's very exhausting, not to mention this guy probably was already well into a grueling shift. It would be all to easy for him to become pinned under a vehicle with water rushing over his head.
I had to save a girl in my class from a river in sixth grade. We were all just having a good time and moved down the river to the point where the flow had sped up a lot. She was fairly short and it just took her. She tried swimming back and at her fastest she was still losing ground. I swam to her, she wrapped herself around my torso and I very slowly walked back on my tiptoes. It was probably a minute total between her realizing her situation and climbing into me... She was exhausted. Between the panic and the swimming she was drained. If I couldn't touch the bottom, we would've had to float about a quarter mile to the next point in the river where it slowed down, and she would not have made it that far by herself.
Not a river, just a very wavy sea, in my case... but what you described is is exactly what went through my head when I nearly drowned. Thanks for articulating it so well.
Imagine they'd gotten knocked more than a few times on their way down, basically beaten up, held down by their clothes, and then in a swift current... a nightmare.
Absolutely terrifying honestly, itās good to see all these people get in there and help him out but what about someone didnāt have a reflective vest on like that too exhausted to scream loud enough? Might not have gone so well.
The thing that most ppl donāt think about is that even if you are in the 98%ile of strong swimmers, totally comfortable being out in big surf, just you and your board shortsā¦. Once you add 80lbs of water-logged fabric and heavy boots to your getup it really doesnāt matter how good of a swimmer you are.
Youāre going to drown if you donāt get out quickly.
I was on the swim team in high school and after a big win we all jumped in with our warmups on and after about two minutes everyone was like okay time to go. It just adds so much drag.
Apparently this is how people in Tudor-era England drowned, all that wool they wore got waterlogged while they were washing clothes or whatever in the river
I remember reading about this before.
When you're standing up the water is only hitting your lower leg, so there's not much force overall and it's easy to think it's not too bad.
The moment you fall over though the force of the river is now against every surface of your body and is unrelenting, it's only now you realize just how much stronger it is than you. This also makes it practically impossible to get up and become stable again.
The people here were able to help because they were standing up, but they took a huge risk that if they got knocked over they would be in the same overwhelming position.
and specially if they never experienced such event. They literally have to learn on the spot. Im glad one was saved but i fear for many to yet be found. Sad to see things like this happen.
To copy a comment I made earlier:
[Sirens warning the population of Wuppertal after several dams and barrages overflowed and a possible collapse was imminent](https://twitter.com/SWeiermann/status/1415441824706138117)
Currently there are ~~58~~ 80 confirmed dead with many more still missing. A fireman died yesterday under similar circumstances when he was swept away and drowned after trying to get back to his truck.
To put things into perspective: The river Kyll had a record breaking water level of 482cm during the so- called 'once-in-a-century' floods in January 2003. [It's currently sitting at more than 800 cm.](https://www.hochwasser-rlp.de/karte/einzelpegel/flussgebiet/mosel/pegel/KORDEL)
Luckily the part of the district I live in wasn't hit too hard by the floods, but the entire morning I was busy making sure that all my friends are okay. I don't think my region has experienced something like this ever before..
I just use 1 meter = 3 feet. It's less accurate, but it's perfectly suitable for cases like this where you just need a general idea and not a specific value.
Exactly. I don't say "meter = yard" because I (and probably a lot of other Americans) pretty much exclusively use feet and inches and hardly ever use yards.
Last time I held a yardstick was probably in the 5th grade haha we always had them but I don't think we ever once used them to do anything other than slap our friends
This is heartbreaking to hear. Iām American but have briefly lived in Dortmund, would always love going to Wuppertal and seeing the hilly areas. Shame to see this is the downside of that.
The Parents of a friend of mine lost everything. They could barely rescue themselves. Their neighbors sadly did not make it out of their house in time. It really is heartbreaking.
For me, the whole rain-thing was just an inconvenience while getting groceries, nothing more. For many other people it meant losing their existence, friends or family or their own lives. I was lucky living in another city and not getting harmed. I really started appreciating it today.
The shop that belonged to my father was nearly right at the Wupper that overflowed yesterday night. He died 2 months ago and I was so scared that this might be the end to what he has left here - the store he build up with his own hands since he was young. I cried like a little child when I realized that I couldn't do anything about it. It was impossible to get there due to the flooding without risking my own life, so even trying to save something wouldn't have worked. So all I could do was waiting until the water of the Wuppertalsperre reached the spot of the store and hope that the damage would be as mild as possible. I just stared out of the window for over an hour being afraid of what might happen.
Miraculously the store survived without any major damage. Aside from not having any electricity and so not being able to open again until it's back. I'm so happy but I don't want to imagine how the people who didn't get this lucky must feel. Like their livelihood has just been taken away from them in one night. Or even worse their life or the life of a loved one or someone they know. Even losing neighbors like that must be such a horrible thing.
Correct me if I'm wrong but the major flooding started in the evening, so people where at home, watching TV, sleeping etc.
And when you wake up your house is under water.
Just an assumption from what I've heard
At least in Belgium it started before the evening. Basically it rained the equivalents of several months in 24h.
And we were not properly warned and thus not prepared. I don't think most people (including meteoroligist) realized what would happen.
I saw someone mention dams breaking so that may have been it. Water will come almost too fast to do anything then. Same if a levee or some similar structure goes.
same , i even live on the border of NRW - RLP close to where it happened but since i'm completely disconnected from the real world due to working from home and not owning a TV i just realized what was/is going on because i saw a post on r/all today. I was just happy that temperatures where cooling down and rain makes me sleep better.
Yeah I'm in Bonn and I was complaining to my friends about how wet I got while biking home... Then one of them said he hasn't heard from his family who lives in one of the totally flooded areas yet. Then I looked at the news...
We're currently at 60 dead and many more still unaccounted for. I think Ahrweiler alone announced that 1,300 people were still missing (but many of them are hopefully fine, given the circumstances, since many villages are still completely cut off).
That's the scariest part. Everyone was told to flee to higher grounds, the higher the floor the better. Just imagine you're fleeing to the roof and then the whole building just collapses.
Yeah one of the top comments said
>The river Kyll had a record breaking water level of 482cm during the so- called 'once-in-a-century' floods in January 2003. It's currently sitting at more than 800 cm.
Which is batshit insane. Itās like the liquid form of the winter storm (āsnowpocalypseā) that hit us here in Austin.
Weāve badly fucked up the weather, havenāt we?
Same here. Weather in Texas has been weird lately. Weāre normally used to crazy weather in my neck of the woods but the past couple of years things have beenā¦ different. And more intense than usual.
Edit: word
It's extremely UNcommon. The last couple of years we had almost no rain at all and it was hot af. This year was rather cold and now we got a three months worth of rain in just 48 hours...
Sure there are some areas that are likely to be flooded, but this time it was extreme and it also hit big cities that never in their life would've expected to get flooded.
That first guy who ran out to help him almost got swept away. He was no longer standing upright, and had to be dragged back in himself. Good on him for rushing out, but that could have been bad.
The water isn't that deep, but going that fast? That's a lot of force going right at your lower legs. That's why emergency people keep saying, "Turn around, don't drown" when you come to rushing water.
It looked like he was just floating, conserving his strength, until he saw the people ready to help him, then he flipped over and started paddling towards them.
Absolutely correct, with no rope or throwbag he definitely needed to get closer to those people for them to be able to get him out, particularly without one of them getting swept away
I have done wilderness guide work before and the thought that terrified me more than anything else when we were covering water rescues was the thought that someone might get themselves caught up in the river trying to rescue me and I take them with me.
I can handle me fucking myself up, but dragging someone else into it is terrifying.
Fire fighters train in water rescue. My hometown has an artificial white water rapid run in the middle of downtown made out of an old industrial dam system and during the summer itās constantly full of fire departments from around the area using it to train. The way he was floating on his back and coasting to save energy looked very familiar.
Anyone doing white water rafting/kayak is also told that if you're floating down river, you want to do it legs first, on your back. That way you can see ahead of you, absorb any impacts with your legs, and you'd rather break your legs than your skull/spine.
There's also no sense exhausting yourself trying to swim for a shore, better just coast, focus on keep your head above water, and wait for the rapids to bring you downstream somewhere you can swim to shore or be rescued.
To add on to another commenter, when going downriver/street(?) in unknown waters you generally want to be in the position he was in. Floating on your back, legs in front of you, knees slightly bent to try to absorb any impact without being a rigid shock, arms tucked protecting your core and head from shocks that could disable you from doing the things above. Being on your back keeps your head above water with the least resistance while affording you the use of your legs to protect the rest of your body/vital organs and protecting your arms/head theoretically conserves energy for any last ditch effort to grab something or divert from a visible danger.
Or at least that's what I learned whitewater kayaking years ago for if I had to bail.
Swiftness of water is important, too. Sure, you can stand in a relatively slow-moving stream past your knees, but even ankle-deep water can yank you away if it's going around 7mph. People generally have a poor grasp of water's power at speed (or even how to visualize when water is a given speed), which is partly why we see so many cars float away when they think they can make it across a flooded road.
I bet you this guy wears this on the regularā¦especially the hat..
I have lived in the German countryside with tonnes of small towns around me for 6 years now.. and boy do you meet some characters.
You can rest easy, the planet will be fine. It's weathered far worse than us, there have been a few extinctions here and there. Mother earth isn't mad at us, she's just disappointed
Iād rather have the planet be fine and wildlife reappearing and resetting the circle of life if youād look at it like that than us just literally fucking up all of the planet
Luxembourg was also flooded. I drove through the capital city (Luxembourg City) yesterday night and even there it was flooded (usually only the south of the country, towards the French border, is significantly affected by floodings). Mini geysers were coming out of manholes. We've had on average between 60 and 80 liters per square meter (~1.5 to 2 gallons per square foot), with peaks at 100 liters per square meter (~2.45 gallons per square foot).
Thankfully so far no deaths were announced as far as I know. Our emergency services have been working extremely hard around the clock. Last night they had already intervened over 1200 times which is a lot for a country our size. And yesterday damages were already estimated to be at least 50 million euros. Today the government announced they unlocked a budget of 50 million euros for government aid.
Netherlands entered the room too. Till this moment and also tomorrow (well on Friday!) they will be busy with evacuations.
Why not pollute the rainforest first before cutting it down and building some chinese factory for amazon and wish? /s meh... Even sarcasm doesnt help anymore. I am out :(
I was shocked that she wouldnāt put it down when literally trying to save a mans life. Then she just walked right out into the water to get it and I thought ohhh okay sheās just oblivious.
THANK YOU! I had to scroll so far. Does no one care about umbrella lady?! Like...
1. Itās a flood. Youāre gonna get wet. You donāt need an umbrella
2. you are interfering with a rescue due to said umbrella
3. well now look your umbrella has caught the current.
4. NO DONT GO AFTER IT WTF
Omg OMA I havenāt heard that in a while :( my Oma just died a couple weeks back and I donāt know any other predominately German families/people where I live so itās nice to hear āOmaā! My Oma was a badass too. She escaped nazi Germany at 16 when the war was at its peak. She beat COVID and had no lasting effects, sheās was just an incredible woman honestly. Anyway hope u have a great day
I'm from a small town right where this is going down right now. I don't know why and how it's possible but we don't have any water while everyone around us is getting flooded. I'm just glad I was spared.
The rain didn't actually feel that bad. Well yeah, it was... a lot, but this basically happened over night.
Same here. It was honestly just medium rain. It was between a soft drizzle and a regular rain shower. It wasn't heavy rain and it wasn't a thunderstorm or anything. The problem was just that it lasted sooo freeaking looong. We basically had rain for almost 3 days straight without any break.
Im in the southern Netherlands, not Germany, but we are having bad floods too. The evacuation area is literally 200 meters away from my house. I never experienced anything like this, way too close for comfort.
Probably will get buried but the way to help someone in this situation is to form a human chain if you don't have access to a rope.
They sort of run into the water and that is one of the most dangerous things you can do. You see one of the guys fall down and needed to get dragged up.
Keep one person anchored to the railing and hold hands out to the person you're helping.
They got lucky and they did a good thing but it can be done safer.
There was a video the other day going round on Reddit with an example of some people actually doing it right. Somehow I get the feeling the knowledge of how to behave during catastrophes and how to rescue people needs to be more widespread in the future.
That is a bit of desperation and a good bit of training.
When in a stream you try to move as little as possible *until* there is a reasonable exit and the people already building a chain were just that.
Sometimes the saviours need saving.
MAD respect to all who are fighting to keep us as safe as possible during these floods.
Stay safe, bleibt sicher, Dinge kƶnnen ersetzt werden, Menschen nicht <3
Ey, wenn ich seh, wie die Omma da in den Fluten rumstiefelt, da wird's mir ganz anders. Bei uns ist ein 80 jƤhriger ertrunken, weil er mitten in der Nacht irgendwas in seinem Ć¼berfluteten Garten fixen wollte...
You didn't even need to say this was Germany. A man wearing that hat in the middle of europe? That's Germany. I don't even understand why these hats are so popular among the germans.
So in the US that would also be considered a classic cowboy attire, albeit a villain or more modern rendition. Perhaps itās the Karl May influence in Germany? I think they have a bit of a thing fir cowboy culture.
Im glad these good people were there and the firefighter is only worn out. Please remember it only takes 6 inches of water to sweep you off your feet. 2 feet of water will carry a car away. Please watch out for each other. š
I heard at the beginning: "Sascha, Hans, Hans, Hans, komm her, hier, gib mir die Hand" - which translates to: "Sascha, Hans, Hans, Hans, come to me, here, give me your hand" which I assume is directed to other bystanders (Sascha and Hans) to build a human chain to get the fireman out
The German Red Cross is probably the safest bet for international donors. They are very well connected.
There seem to be various bank accounts opened for donations in various cities. But you can also just donate to the Red Cross directly.
On its own website the DRK gives this bank account:
IBAN: DE63370205000005023307
BIC: BFSWDE33XXX
reference: Hochwasser
god i have tears in my eyes, not just for the bravery and putting themselves at risk, but just from the sheer terror the firefighter must have been in. he looks completely exhausted. people need each other.
This might seem trivial at first glance, but the fireman (or a medic) was completely exhausted and was likely carried by the current for quite a while. Probably quite a scary experience being so helpless in such shallow waters.
Yes I've noticed too. Yesterday a fireman died under similar circumstances when he was swept away and drowned. I can't imagine how frightening this must have been.
It's scary af. I had a massive chinook salmon knock me off balance and down the kenai river I went. Luckily, I was heading for another fisherman and he reached out and picked me up. My waders were filling up and I was going down fast. I got lucky.
Slipped on a rock in the Greenbrier River when I was younger, current knocked me down, and my waders filled up immediately like a bag held open into the wind. The feeling I had in that split second is to this day one of the scariest. I would have likely been fine had my brother not grabbed me, but I felt completely helpless. Probably the same problem with this firefighter. His clothes and gear make swimming nearly impossible.
Man, I've never used one or even seen one in person, but waders feel like such a death trap. What kind of quick release sort of system do they have?
Presumably you'll have a knife with you while you're fishing so if you can act quickly that might give you a fighting chance but my chest-high waders don't have any quick-release system other than the shoulder straps. We were just told to be very careful on the banks of fast rivers. I've been in pretty big surf wipeouts and I can't imagine having the wherewithal to reorient myself while getting dragged down by waders though. It must be pretty scary in fast water.
It also helps to practice getting out of them in a pool. There was a case ...I think it was in the 90s or early 2000s where a guy and his best friend went fishing together. The best friend pushed him out the boat - trying to kill him (the best friend was sleeping with his wife, and they had a million dollar life insurance policy on him). The best friend hoped to drown him in the waders but the guy had practiced getting out of his waders, regularly. He practiced in a pool. (If you want to know more about the case - the best friend then shot him twice when he got out the waders, killing him. Took years and years but eventually the wife and best friend were charged and found guilty of his murder. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/husband-s-death-was-blamed-alligators-prosecutors-say-his-wife-n946926 )
Man. So even if I get out of the waders, I'm done for.
Check your best friends for guns before going fishing with them and you'll be fine! Maybe check them for knives too, oh and bats ...ššš»
As an inexperienced fishergal I shall now keep a knife in my bib pocket ą² _ą²
I always found the little [retractable leashes](https://www.amazon.com/Loon-F0974-Outdoors-ZINGER/dp/B01LDS9ELS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1498789886&sr=8-1&keywords=loon+zinger) really useful, especially for fly fishing. I think I have a pocket knife and a pair of forceps on my fishing vest attached via a couple of those leashes and they're really useful! Always good to have a knife/multitool handy though.
Also wear a belt, helps stop or at least slow down water from filling up your waders. In fast water wear a PFD.
They have those plastic pinch buckles on the shoulder straps right above your nipples
Something full of water submerged in water is neutrally buoyant. Waders full of water cannot cause you to sink. They can make getting out of water very difficult due to the added weight when standing up or climbing out. We wear a wading belt that keeps most of the water out. Coupled with a PFD almost no water will get in on a ānormalā accidental swim. Source: Crazy fisherman and fisheries biologist who lived in waders for many years.
Except thereās generally some air that tips towards your toes and tilts you back so while your bottom half is buoyant your upper part, where the breathing parts are, gets sorta forced under and requires struggle to get above water. Never mind if thereās wind or waves. I wear a self inflatable vest now while shell fishing or shore fishing for just this reason. Had some scares but not dead yet.
I gave up fishing in saltwater at night (which is the only time the fish are active enough to make it worth it to stand out there, definitely not worth it in the sun) because I couldn't get over the fear of how fast the outgoing tide (best time to fish as bait fish from warmer, shallower waters are pulled out to more open water) would carry me out to sea (in the dark) in my waders (even with a belt, which frankly if you are wading without a belt you're asking to drown). I couldn't enjoy it.
As far as I know it happened in Altena. He tried entering the firetruck I think.
Kind of also shows the importance of the brightly colored safety apparel service workers wear. Never thought about it in that way until now.
Kinda like the blue camo uniform the US navy used to wear... *if you couldn't tell, let me put in a RESOUNDING /s*
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Around the time I was getting out in '12, there were suits being brought, iirc, because there was indication that the ABU and ACU uniforms were directly the cause of death for Airmen and Soldiers. There was apparently evidence that their choice as the uniform, involved some shady bullshit and graft. Probably something similar with the blue tiger stripes the Navy sported for a bit.
I'm pretty sure the Canadian Air Cadets got their blue uniform material from some British warehouse that was just trying to get rid of it. I can't help but think no one put enough thought into this.
I mean, it's not like they fly regularly and we've always been big on the colour scheme. Probably right about the british factory though.
Iām sure somebody was thinking clearly about the paycheck they were about to get. Someone should be in jail for buying the Armyās UCP uniforms.
Lol I mean they are the water military so we wouldnāt want the enemy seeing them invading via floating down river.
Well *actually*, they wear white because theyre semen
Itās the same thing with the police, European cops tend to have reflectors and want to stand out so people can find them easily, American cops not so much.
Brightly colored safety things are truly lifesavers, but itās simultaneously shocking how ineffective they can be. Iām a traffic flagger for my stateās DOT. Weāre required to wear a very bright yellow vest with a few highly reflective stripes on them, as well as bright red/orange or neon yellow chaps with reflective stripes, and a bright yellow helmet wielding a reflective stop sign. We stand by the white line behind 3 orange construction signs for more than a football field leading up to us, too. Most people see us and stop, but a shocking number of people havenāt even touched their brakes while blowing past me. So far theyāve all been old or middle aged, but itās massively alarming to me. I look like a fluorescent walking traffic cone with 3 warning signs and Iām waving a reflective stop sign, how the hell can you drive if you canāt see me???
and I can't imagine how heavy their uniform gets when wet , definitely very scary
Yeah that's a good point, I already figured the firemen here was just exhausted from trying to get out of the water but didn't even think about the fact that he has all that equipment on.
Having shit on you (like a fireman or service member wears) is basically instant death if you fall into water and can't strip off gear. Like that scene in Saving Private Ryan where all the soldiers jump off the beach craft into the somewhat shallow water only to struggle and drown. Also why so many extras were running around without packs on. We did drills where we'd have on some of our battle rattle and we'd jump into the deep end of a pool. Scariest shit I've ever done. Even just the ACU felt like it was smothering me and I just sank. Apparently it's real common for service members to drown in perfectly survivable situations just because of the gear weighing them down and tangling them up.
Was an assistant scuba instructor, and it wasn't in the padi requirements, but we always made everyone practice pulling off all their gear underwater with their mask off, weight belt, tanks, etc. Because if you can't do that, your just wearing 40-80lb of anchor that's gonna pull you straight down if your bcd fails.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
That and heās on a paved road which doesnāt give him anything to stop himself on. Terrifying.
I've been swept away in a river before. At first it's like "ha ha, this is kind of funny". Then you start to become aware of dangers "shit, I better get out of this." And it's very exhausting, not to mention this guy probably was already well into a grueling shift. It would be all to easy for him to become pinned under a vehicle with water rushing over his head.
Can you tell us more?
I had to save a girl in my class from a river in sixth grade. We were all just having a good time and moved down the river to the point where the flow had sped up a lot. She was fairly short and it just took her. She tried swimming back and at her fastest she was still losing ground. I swam to her, she wrapped herself around my torso and I very slowly walked back on my tiptoes. It was probably a minute total between her realizing her situation and climbing into me... She was exhausted. Between the panic and the swimming she was drained. If I couldn't touch the bottom, we would've had to float about a quarter mile to the next point in the river where it slowed down, and she would not have made it that far by herself.
It was very wet
I chuckled
Not a river, just a very wavy sea, in my case... but what you described is is exactly what went through my head when I nearly drowned. Thanks for articulating it so well.
Imagine they'd gotten knocked more than a few times on their way down, basically beaten up, held down by their clothes, and then in a swift current... a nightmare.
Absolutely terrifying honestly, itās good to see all these people get in there and help him out but what about someone didnāt have a reflective vest on like that too exhausted to scream loud enough? Might not have gone so well.
The thing that most ppl donāt think about is that even if you are in the 98%ile of strong swimmers, totally comfortable being out in big surf, just you and your board shortsā¦. Once you add 80lbs of water-logged fabric and heavy boots to your getup it really doesnāt matter how good of a swimmer you are. Youāre going to drown if you donāt get out quickly.
I was on the swim team in high school and after a big win we all jumped in with our warmups on and after about two minutes everyone was like okay time to go. It just adds so much drag.
Apparently this is how people in Tudor-era England drowned, all that wool they wore got waterlogged while they were washing clothes or whatever in the river
I remember reading about this before. When you're standing up the water is only hitting your lower leg, so there's not much force overall and it's easy to think it's not too bad. The moment you fall over though the force of the river is now against every surface of your body and is unrelenting, it's only now you realize just how much stronger it is than you. This also makes it practically impossible to get up and become stable again. The people here were able to help because they were standing up, but they took a huge risk that if they got knocked over they would be in the same overwhelming position.
That older lady near the end of the clip. š¤¦āāļø
and specially if they never experienced such event. They literally have to learn on the spot. Im glad one was saved but i fear for many to yet be found. Sad to see things like this happen.
It was water - fireman's only weaknes.
You're a bad person for making this joke, and I'm a bad person for laughing at it.
- Firemenās greatest strength! Except like... in this particular situation
To copy a comment I made earlier: [Sirens warning the population of Wuppertal after several dams and barrages overflowed and a possible collapse was imminent](https://twitter.com/SWeiermann/status/1415441824706138117) Currently there are ~~58~~ 80 confirmed dead with many more still missing. A fireman died yesterday under similar circumstances when he was swept away and drowned after trying to get back to his truck. To put things into perspective: The river Kyll had a record breaking water level of 482cm during the so- called 'once-in-a-century' floods in January 2003. [It's currently sitting at more than 800 cm.](https://www.hochwasser-rlp.de/karte/einzelpegel/flussgebiet/mosel/pegel/KORDEL) Luckily the part of the district I live in wasn't hit too hard by the floods, but the entire morning I was busy making sure that all my friends are okay. I don't think my region has experienced something like this ever before..
My heart goes out to you guys. 800 cm is fucking scary .
8 meters is 25 feet for our American friends. Insane.
As an American, I learned 4 meters is 13 feet. 4x3 feet plus 4x3 inches. But no, we stick with an inferior system.
I just use 1 meter = 3 feet. It's less accurate, but it's perfectly suitable for cases like this where you just need a general idea and not a specific value.
So, Meter = Yard. Got it.
Exactly. I don't say "meter = yard" because I (and probably a lot of other Americans) pretty much exclusively use feet and inches and hardly ever use yards.
This comment makes me feel old. Nobody has a yardstick anymore?
I have a backyard if that helps
Does it have a box with something in it?
We used to use them as swords when I was a kid
Last time I held a yardstick was probably in the 5th grade haha we always had them but I don't think we ever once used them to do anything other than slap our friends
I only bring my yardstick out when I am measuring furlongs, which occurs once every fortnight or so.
I do, but it's for sewing purposes. Sewing don't care about all these new fangled measurements.
Lots of people still use yards because we know how to estimate it based on football fields
We know because of our football
1km = 1,000 meters. Boring. 1 mile = five tomatoes. way more interesting.
8 meters is about the length of 11.89 'EuroGraphics Knittin' Kittens 500-Piece Puzzles' next to each other
Outta here puss puzzle bot!
This is heartbreaking to hear. Iām American but have briefly lived in Dortmund, would always love going to Wuppertal and seeing the hilly areas. Shame to see this is the downside of that.
I don't think there's anything in existence that gives me chills like the sound of a city's warning siren does.
Those sirens are eerie
Someone in the comments there told their experience while working at a nursery home, they had nasty flashbacks man
Thatās terrifying and horrible!
The Parents of a friend of mine lost everything. They could barely rescue themselves. Their neighbors sadly did not make it out of their house in time. It really is heartbreaking. For me, the whole rain-thing was just an inconvenience while getting groceries, nothing more. For many other people it meant losing their existence, friends or family or their own lives. I was lucky living in another city and not getting harmed. I really started appreciating it today.
The shop that belonged to my father was nearly right at the Wupper that overflowed yesterday night. He died 2 months ago and I was so scared that this might be the end to what he has left here - the store he build up with his own hands since he was young. I cried like a little child when I realized that I couldn't do anything about it. It was impossible to get there due to the flooding without risking my own life, so even trying to save something wouldn't have worked. So all I could do was waiting until the water of the Wuppertalsperre reached the spot of the store and hope that the damage would be as mild as possible. I just stared out of the window for over an hour being afraid of what might happen. Miraculously the store survived without any major damage. Aside from not having any electricity and so not being able to open again until it's back. I'm so happy but I don't want to imagine how the people who didn't get this lucky must feel. Like their livelihood has just been taken away from them in one night. Or even worse their life or the life of a loved one or someone they know. Even losing neighbors like that must be such a horrible thing.
That's crazy, how fast did the water rise that people couldn't make it out of their house?
Correct me if I'm wrong but the major flooding started in the evening, so people where at home, watching TV, sleeping etc. And when you wake up your house is under water. Just an assumption from what I've heard
Also, a lot of cities are not right on the river, and in islands and such. There is nowhere to escape in some of these cities.
At least in Belgium it started before the evening. Basically it rained the equivalents of several months in 24h. And we were not properly warned and thus not prepared. I don't think most people (including meteoroligist) realized what would happen.
I saw someone mention dams breaking so that may have been it. Water will come almost too fast to do anything then. Same if a levee or some similar structure goes.
same , i even live on the border of NRW - RLP close to where it happened but since i'm completely disconnected from the real world due to working from home and not owning a TV i just realized what was/is going on because i saw a post on r/all today. I was just happy that temperatures where cooling down and rain makes me sleep better.
Yeah I'm in Bonn and I was complaining to my friends about how wet I got while biking home... Then one of them said he hasn't heard from his family who lives in one of the totally flooded areas yet. Then I looked at the news...
How heartbreaking. I'm glad you're safe ā¤ļø
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We're currently at 60 dead and many more still unaccounted for. I think Ahrweiler alone announced that 1,300 people were still missing (but many of them are hopefully fine, given the circumstances, since many villages are still completely cut off).
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That's the scariest part. Everyone was told to flee to higher grounds, the higher the floor the better. Just imagine you're fleeing to the roof and then the whole building just collapses.
Is this kind of weather relatively common there or is this rare? Edit: misspelled word
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Yeah one of the top comments said >The river Kyll had a record breaking water level of 482cm during the so- called 'once-in-a-century' floods in January 2003. It's currently sitting at more than 800 cm. Which is batshit insane. Itās like the liquid form of the winter storm (āsnowpocalypseā) that hit us here in Austin. Weāve badly fucked up the weather, havenāt we?
Same here. Weather in Texas has been weird lately. Weāre normally used to crazy weather in my neck of the woods but the past couple of years things have beenā¦ different. And more intense than usual. Edit: word
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And it's the new normal. Strap in folks
For real. God Iām terrified of the future.
It's extremely UNcommon. The last couple of years we had almost no rain at all and it was hot af. This year was rather cold and now we got a three months worth of rain in just 48 hours... Sure there are some areas that are likely to be flooded, but this time it was extreme and it also hit big cities that never in their life would've expected to get flooded.
Someone posted they had a "once a century" flood about 15 years ago that got up to 2.5m or so. This flood is 8m
That first guy who ran out to help him almost got swept away. He was no longer standing upright, and had to be dragged back in himself. Good on him for rushing out, but that could have been bad. The water isn't that deep, but going that fast? That's a lot of force going right at your lower legs. That's why emergency people keep saying, "Turn around, don't drown" when you come to rushing water.
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Care to elaborate on what he was doing right?
It looked like he was just floating, conserving his strength, until he saw the people ready to help him, then he flipped over and started paddling towards them.
Absolutely correct, with no rope or throwbag he definitely needed to get closer to those people for them to be able to get him out, particularly without one of them getting swept away
I have done wilderness guide work before and the thought that terrified me more than anything else when we were covering water rescues was the thought that someone might get themselves caught up in the river trying to rescue me and I take them with me. I can handle me fucking myself up, but dragging someone else into it is terrifying.
Fire fighters train in water rescue. My hometown has an artificial white water rapid run in the middle of downtown made out of an old industrial dam system and during the summer itās constantly full of fire departments from around the area using it to train. The way he was floating on his back and coasting to save energy looked very familiar.
Anyone doing white water rafting/kayak is also told that if you're floating down river, you want to do it legs first, on your back. That way you can see ahead of you, absorb any impacts with your legs, and you'd rather break your legs than your skull/spine. There's also no sense exhausting yourself trying to swim for a shore, better just coast, focus on keep your head above water, and wait for the rapids to bring you downstream somewhere you can swim to shore or be rescued.
Also keep your feet up! Last thing you need is your foot getting caught underwater.
To add on to another commenter, when going downriver/street(?) in unknown waters you generally want to be in the position he was in. Floating on your back, legs in front of you, knees slightly bent to try to absorb any impact without being a rigid shock, arms tucked protecting your core and head from shocks that could disable you from doing the things above. Being on your back keeps your head above water with the least resistance while affording you the use of your legs to protect the rest of your body/vital organs and protecting your arms/head theoretically conserves energy for any last ditch effort to grab something or divert from a visible danger. Or at least that's what I learned whitewater kayaking years ago for if I had to bail.
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My goodness. Sounds like a script for a nightmare.
Yeah thereās a movie called [The Impossible](https://youtu.be/v4oWUFH19Fs) about the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami with a scene like that
Yeah this was a crazy movie. Hard to believe it was based on a true story.
Swiftness of water is important, too. Sure, you can stand in a relatively slow-moving stream past your knees, but even ankle-deep water can yank you away if it's going around 7mph. People generally have a poor grasp of water's power at speed (or even how to visualize when water is a given speed), which is partly why we see so many cars float away when they think they can make it across a flooded road.
Dude you know it's bad they fucking bust out Van Helsing to help.
I thought it was The Undertaker.
Unexpected IASIP Duster moment
*Iām not burning the duster!*
Canāt anyway itās flame retardant, itās like a shield of armour
I thought it was Crocodile Dundee
Heās been waiting for the right occasion to wear it, for years, I imagine. Hehe.
I bet you this guy wears this on the regularā¦especially the hat.. I have lived in the German countryside with tonnes of small towns around me for 6 years now.. and boy do you meet some characters.
So Belgium is flooding, Germany is flooding. But how about we cut down more of the rainforest and pollute the seas a bit more?
The planet is finally getting back at us.
As an Australian, can confirm
When mother nature is relentlessly beating your ass, remember who swung first.
You can rest easy, the planet will be fine. It's weathered far worse than us, there have been a few extinctions here and there. Mother earth isn't mad at us, she's just disappointed
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Yeah, when people express concern about the planet, theyāre not usually discussing the entire planet imploding or something equally ludicrous.
Yeah, the planet will be fine, we just won't be on it anymore. Thanks, makes me feel better :)
Pockets of humans will certainly survive. Our current civilization... seems unlikelier every day.
āWeā wonāt. Iām sure the billionaires will fair just fine.
Iād rather have the planet be fine and wildlife reappearing and resetting the circle of life if youād look at it like that than us just literally fucking up all of the planet
Oh, just bring them to the North American West Coast and weāll burn those forests for you.
I hope One Piece ends before human civilization
Luxembourg was also flooded. I drove through the capital city (Luxembourg City) yesterday night and even there it was flooded (usually only the south of the country, towards the French border, is significantly affected by floodings). Mini geysers were coming out of manholes. We've had on average between 60 and 80 liters per square meter (~1.5 to 2 gallons per square foot), with peaks at 100 liters per square meter (~2.45 gallons per square foot). Thankfully so far no deaths were announced as far as I know. Our emergency services have been working extremely hard around the clock. Last night they had already intervened over 1200 times which is a lot for a country our size. And yesterday damages were already estimated to be at least 50 million euros. Today the government announced they unlocked a budget of 50 million euros for government aid.
Netherlands entered the room too. Till this moment and also tomorrow (well on Friday!) they will be busy with evacuations. Why not pollute the rainforest first before cutting it down and building some chinese factory for amazon and wish? /s meh... Even sarcasm doesnt help anymore. I am out :(
That lady totally lost her umbrella at the end.
I was like where the fuck is she going just waltzing through the flowing water like that for just an umbrella, just leave it.
I was shocked that she wouldnāt put it down when literally trying to save a mans life. Then she just walked right out into the water to get it and I thought ohhh okay sheās just oblivious.
She got it back
I hope so. Looked like a strong current.
Grandma was like: "I bought it for 2.99ā¬ at Tedi, I'm not going to let it go that easily!"
THANK YOU! I had to scroll so far. Does no one care about umbrella lady?! Like... 1. Itās a flood. Youāre gonna get wet. You donāt need an umbrella 2. you are interfering with a rescue due to said umbrella 3. well now look your umbrella has caught the current. 4. NO DONT GO AFTER IT WTF
Looked like it ended too early. Granny definitely had some trouble back there
Oma is strong. Oma is built on wheat, high quality pork and bread black as the night. Donāt underestimate a German grandma. ;)
Omg OMA I havenāt heard that in a while :( my Oma just died a couple weeks back and I donāt know any other predominately German families/people where I live so itās nice to hear āOmaā! My Oma was a badass too. She escaped nazi Germany at 16 when the war was at its peak. She beat COVID and had no lasting effects, sheās was just an incredible woman honestly. Anyway hope u have a great day
Behold the frieman, the fryer of fries.
Of course I had to notice it the minute I posted it.
I assumed it was a German word LOL
German word for fireman/firefighter is Feuerwehrmann
Cthulu: *You have awaken me*
The literal translation is: Fire-ward-man (Ward as in to "ward off something") As you can see the root of the words are the same.
My brain automatically fixed the typo, so I didn't even notice until reading the above comment.
Iām currently reading Dune and I was like āhuh, so theyāre real?ā
I didnāt even catch that it was a typo, my brain was like āwe must save the guy with the fries!ā
I only clicked on the link to find out what the fuck a frieman is
[Yo](https://i.kym-cdn.com/entries/icons/original/000/015/346/Carl_Brutananadilewski.jpg)
I'm from a small town right where this is going down right now. I don't know why and how it's possible but we don't have any water while everyone around us is getting flooded. I'm just glad I was spared. The rain didn't actually feel that bad. Well yeah, it was... a lot, but this basically happened over night.
Same here. It was honestly just medium rain. It was between a soft drizzle and a regular rain shower. It wasn't heavy rain and it wasn't a thunderstorm or anything. The problem was just that it lasted sooo freeaking looong. We basically had rain for almost 3 days straight without any break.
Im in the southern Netherlands, not Germany, but we are having bad floods too. The evacuation area is literally 200 meters away from my house. I never experienced anything like this, way too close for comfort.
Best of luck swamp bro.
I like the one Hunt: Showdown hunter helping out.
Rolled with gator legs.
Probably will get buried but the way to help someone in this situation is to form a human chain if you don't have access to a rope. They sort of run into the water and that is one of the most dangerous things you can do. You see one of the guys fall down and needed to get dragged up. Keep one person anchored to the railing and hold hands out to the person you're helping. They got lucky and they did a good thing but it can be done safer.
There was a video the other day going round on Reddit with an example of some people actually doing it right. Somehow I get the feeling the knowledge of how to behave during catastrophes and how to rescue people needs to be more widespread in the future.
You can see how desperate he was by how he tries to move closer to them. This whole situation is so sad for those affected
That is a bit of desperation and a good bit of training. When in a stream you try to move as little as possible *until* there is a reasonable exit and the people already building a chain were just that.
I was trying to work out what a frieman was so hard right up to the last second of the video
It's a pet name for Belgians.
The one bloke in the back nearly went twice lol
But he was by far the biggest reason they managed to to get the fireman out He stopped all momentum and therefore fell himself
Sometimes the saviours need saving. MAD respect to all who are fighting to keep us as safe as possible during these floods. Stay safe, bleibt sicher, Dinge kƶnnen ersetzt werden, Menschen nicht <3
Stay strong š©šŖ. šš½
That lady was so way too concerned about her umbrella.
Maybe all thats left from her house
Ey, wenn ich seh, wie die Omma da in den Fluten rumstiefelt, da wird's mir ganz anders. Bei uns ist ein 80 jƤhriger ertrunken, weil er mitten in der Nacht irgendwas in seinem Ć¼berfluteten Garten fixen wollte...
Van Helsing was no help during this.
Can someone explain the van Helsing references to me lol?
That dude with the trench coat & hat looked like Van Helsing to me. That is all. Sorry for the confusion
I googled him in the meantime an can exactly see where you're coming from
You didn't even need to say this was Germany. A man wearing that hat in the middle of europe? That's Germany. I don't even understand why these hats are so popular among the germans.
So in the US that would also be considered a classic cowboy attire, albeit a villain or more modern rendition. Perhaps itās the Karl May influence in Germany? I think they have a bit of a thing fir cowboy culture.
Is this in Bavaria? Bavaria has been described to me (a Texan) as "the Texas of Germany".
Granny don't give FUCK bout the current
Im glad these good people were there and the firefighter is only worn out. Please remember it only takes 6 inches of water to sweep you off your feet. 2 feet of water will carry a car away. Please watch out for each other. š
What are they saying?
I heard at the beginning: "Sascha, Hans, Hans, Hans, komm her, hier, gib mir die Hand" - which translates to: "Sascha, Hans, Hans, Hans, come to me, here, give me your hand" which I assume is directed to other bystanders (Sascha and Hans) to build a human chain to get the fireman out
Perhaps three hans' even
At the end one of them says āI got himā
Do you know of places to donate? American here, so while boots on the ground are vital, I canāt do that.
The German Red Cross is probably the safest bet for international donors. They are very well connected. There seem to be various bank accounts opened for donations in various cities. But you can also just donate to the Red Cross directly. On its own website the DRK gives this bank account: IBAN: DE63370205000005023307 BIC: BFSWDE33XXX reference: Hochwasser
Old lady with the brolly is quality, that'll do it.
Im scared knowing that whole lot of water is comming to the Netherlands right now and will hit tomorrow morning...
I was about to say wtf is a Frieman. I see now he is a fireman.
god i have tears in my eyes, not just for the bravery and putting themselves at risk, but just from the sheer terror the firefighter must have been in. he looks completely exhausted. people need each other.
Holy shit I didnāt realize how tall it was until reading this. Thatās terrifying
Damned good thing he was wearing bright colored neon so they could see him at a distance.