In July of 2021, there were short blips in the American news about flooding in Germany. Little was known about the details at the time and the news quickly faded. The only decent source of information about the floods were in the German media.

It turned out that one of the German towns most affected by the floods of July 2021 was Mayschoss. Mayschoss is located on the Ahr River as it winds through the hills and mountains of the Ahr Valley. Since rivers flow through relatively flat routes, most major roads, trains and utilities are located next to or near rivers. Other towns along the Ahr including Ahrweiler and Dernau were also affected. Towns that had sharp bends in the river were particularly affected and Mayschoss has a sharp bend in the Ahr near the wine cooperative.

Water, power, telephone, gas, and internet service for Mayschoss were lost for quite some time. The main highway serving Mayschoss was washed out. To limit traffic so rescue and support vehicles could get to Mayschoss, visitors were discouraged. The only travel routes open were through what we would call ‘back country roads’ that approach the town through the hills and mountains.

A pre-flood view of the Mayschoss from the vineyards above the village. The silhouette of the Saffenburg Castle ruins can be seen at the top of the mountain at the top right of the photo. In this photo, the Ahr River is hidden by hills at the right, but is located directly below Saffenburg Castle. At the left of the photo is one of many pathways used to access the vineyards in the hills above Mayschoss. These paths are collectively known as the ‘rotweinwanderstrasse’ or ‘red wine wandering path’.

This pre-flood photo, taken directly across from the Saffenburg Castle ruins (top left) looking toward Mayschoss shows the main highway (highway 267) serving Mayschoss alongside the Ahr River. In normal times, the Ahr is a relatively small river. A sharp left bend in the river can be seen just behind the hill at the center right of the photo.

Once in a hundred or more years, drenching rains come and the only place for the runoff to go is into the river. The result is shown in the photos below.

Damage to the winery…

…was extensive. In addition to the physical damage to the property, over one million bottles of wine in storage were inundated with river water and mud.

Look closely at the photo below: Those are wine bottles in storage crates filled with mud. The hundreds of thousands of bottles embedded in mud eventually were recovered and became locally known as ‘mud wine’.

The community response was incredible!

Upon news of the Mayschoss flooding, folks from nearby and all over Germany responded and helped with the cleanup.

A relief center was established in the Catholic church. ‘Rochus’ on the sign is the patron saint of the church.

Many more pictures and much more information about the flooding and rebuilding are located on the winery FaceBook page. In FaceBook, search on winzergenossenschaft, or simply ‘Mayschoss’. ‘Winzergenossenschaft’ means ‘wine cooperative’.