After the flood in Erftstadt-Blessem

After years of living in Erftstadt-Blessem, Maria Dunkel and her son, Thomas, are now a few dozen meters away from where a huge crater opened up following flooding three months ago. In this photo, Thomas points to where a landslide opened the earth near their home.

Images of the crater in Erftstadt-Blessem were seen around the world. Dramatic photographs showed the devastation after a landslide swept away three homes. Four more were destroyed by the landslide and a fifth has since been torn down. Miraculously, no one was killed or injured.

The first floor of the Dunkel home resembles the shell of a building. A few new pipes and electrical connections have been put in place. That they have come this far is largely due to the help of volunteers. Now, the family is hoping for additional financial support from the state in order to move forward with reconstruction.

Susanne Dunkel, who lives one street over, has not yet received any financial aid from the state other than initial emergency aid. Though she received a new kitchen as a gift, her small apartment is largely empty.

Susanne Dunkel has just sewn herself curtains to keep out the peering eyes of disaster tourists. After the landslide, onlookers kept coming to take pictures through her living room window. "It's not nice when you sit here," she said. It's really annoying."

More than three months after the flooding and landslide, the extent of the disaster can still be seen in many parts of Erftstadt-Blessem.

The Erft River has receded and once again flows within its picturesque banks, but reconstruction efforts continue in the town where people saw a familiar waterway turn into a destructive force of nature.

It was a traumatic experience, but hope remains that normality will return at some point. Maria Dunkel originally never wanted to go back to her house, but her husband, Ulrich, convinced her in the end and now she is finally back in the garden.