A Berlin-based climate Journalist says victims of the July floods in Germany cannot be blamed for the disaster because there was a poor warning system to alert them. 

Noah Gordon says the politicians should rather be blamed for the deaths of over 180 people in the natural disaster.

“There was a little talk of the heavy rains that was approaching and there wasn’t great warning about the flood that was coming,” he said.

He said Germany had thousands of sirens in 1990s but they have not been activated. 

“There was no text to warn them. There was app to warn but only ten million Germans have the app.” 

Last month, German prosecutors said they were considering whether there were grounds for investigations negligence of deaths during the floods.

Some Germans wondered whether authorities had done enough to warn residents of affected areas ahead of time.

In a statement, Germany’s public prosecutor stated that it was examining whether preliminary proceedings should be initiated on “negligent homicide and negligent bodily harm as the result of possibly failed or delayed warnings or evacuations of the population.”

According to the statement, evidence could include police reports on the deaths of 12 people in a care facility in the town of Sinzig, and news about the disaster. 

The German Meteorological Service (DWD) said that local authorities did not pass on its warnings about the flooding.

In Zoom interview, Mr. Gordon told JoyNews Mahmud Mohammed-Nurudeen that Germany’s warning system has not been the best and that lives could have been saved with proper warning.

Existing German emergency notification systems include sirens, radio and a smartphone application known as NINA.

Germany’s Interior Minister, Horst Seehofer said he had issued an order for emergency alerts to be sent to cell phones connected to specific local network antenna. 

But such mechanisms have generally been disapproved in Germany amid privacy concerns. 

According to Gordon, one local politician and few people are being investigated about the crime.

Noah said the German government will spend €30 billion to rebuild after the catastrophic floods in July.

“This is good because the victims need help,” he indicated.

The fund for “structural change” as part of Germany’s coal phase-out was €40 billion. Really puts the “cost” of the energy transition into context, he said.