When the flood of the century swept through Bad Schandau in 2002, Kai Bigge had just moved to the spa town. The Elbe was 1.60 meters high in his freshly renovated living room. The fire brigade rescued him, his heavily pregnant wife and their two-year-old son.
After that, Bigge became a firefighter himself. Since then, he has experienced many floods, including the major floods in 2010 and 2013. Today, the insurance salesman heads the volunteer fire department and thus the disaster operations in the Bad Schandau area. Before the flood reaches Dresden, it flows through here. But the firefighter can give the all-clear. Since Sunday, he has stopped all preparation measures in Bad Schandau.
© dpa/Jan Woitas
Mr. Bigge, the flooding in Dresden is not expected to be as bad as initially thought. Alert level 2 is currently in effect in your area too.
The alarm levels depend purely on the water level. The first water level that is relevant for us is in Schöna, right on the Czech border, about eight kilometers from here. If it is at 7.50 meters, for example, I know that the market in Bad Schandau is under water.
