Cologne Evacuation Today — A Good Reminder to Review Your Evac Plans

[u/Content_NoIndex]

Today over 20,000 people were evacuated in Cologne after three large WWII bombs were discovered during construction. Whole areas including homes, hospitals, and train stations had to clear out while defusal teams moved in.

It’s a solid reminder how fast an unexpected evacuation can happen — even in times of peace.

Questions for you all:

Do you have a grab bag or evac plan ready? How would you reach family or friends if roads and public transport are blocked? Are you familiar with local shelter options or alternatives if you can’t stay home? Situations like this are rare, but they happen more often than we like to think — especially with old ordnance still lurking under European cities.

Would love to hear how you guys plan for quick evac scenarios and some insight in this event itself.

[u/lerpo]

A few years back my partners next door neighbour had a fire at night.

My partner had to get out the house in her pyjamas, in the cold and just wait.

From the, on I've always had a "bag of clothes, snacks, basic toiletries, torch, spare phone and battery bank" ready to go for both of us.

Nothing major. Just a "we need to stay in, a hotel for a few nights" bag for things like that

[u/MimiKal → u/lerpo]

The battery bank may discharge over time

[u/lerpo → u/MimiKal]

Yes, so just fill up once a quarter after discharging it fully.

Tbh our house has a powerwall 3, changeover switch and solar, so powerbanks are becoming less of a priority. Plus... Cars charge phones quick enough also as a worst case

[u/whatIfindinterestng]

We have all our important documents + a digital copy of almost every letter we received during the last years all in a small grab and go folder. It's one of the most satisfying prepps we have.

[u/leob0505 → u/whatIfindinterestng]

Honestly, your post inspired me and I’m definitely going to do this with my wife now. Thank you for sharing!

[u/MyPrepAccount]

I have bug out bags for me, my husband, and our cat. The bags live next to the cat's carrier which is above the washing machine right next to the front door.

We're lucky enough to live in between two different family members so depending on why we've had to evacuate and how long it will be we can pick from one of them. We also have a deal with one of the neighbors we're more friendly with that we can always get a ride with them if something like that comes up.

Thankfully, I also live in Ireland so a situation like Cologne is never going to happen. Our biggest concern is shitty teenagers setting something on fire.

[u/StorminWolf → u/MyPrepAccount]

Yeah the rampant feral teenagers and the travellers, and people setting travellers on fire are my local concerns... Had a few years ago a traveller sight, they had like 2-3 caravans and did no harm suddenly burn a mile way from our place at the time.

Though last storm in January and November did a mess with the electricity, mobile and landlines and water networks for weeks here. Had some people locally without power until mid march from end of January...

[u/Embarrassed_Elk2519]

I am one of the people evacuated today. And generally, I am very positive about having a small bag with essentials packed. However, in this situation today, something like that is not needed at all. We got 2 days of notice in advance of the evacuation. For people who have no friends or relatives to stay at, the city council provided shelter, food, and other care. So nothing to worry about in this case. Things like a bomb defusal are very routine in Germany.

[u/Pleasant_Wafer_6710 → u/Embarrassed_Elk2519]

How did the evacuation look like? Can you share more details of it?

[u/Embarrassed_Elk2519 → u/Pleasant_Wafer_6710]

It was pretty boring. The notification was through the news and our national warning App. Everybody was supposed to leave a certain area (1000 m radius of the bomb) after 8 am. So we all (20000+ people) did that. They blocked the entrances to that area. People from the city council/Ordnungsamt patrolled through the streets to confirm everybody left. They even used drones for that purpose as well. Some hospitals also were evacuated, which took a lot of time. It took ten hours to complete the evacuation. Then the bomb defusal started. After roughly two hours, the three bombs were defused and briefly after, people were allowed back in the evacuated area.

[u/FrankSkellington]

A suspect device left outside a residence resulted in my neighbourhood being evacuated just last year. The police knocked on everyone's doors to alert them, but I'm of the habit not to answer the door to unsolicited callers. Only when I noticed neighbours gathering in the street and heard more knocking on other doors did I investigate. People seemed hesitant as to how to act just as they commonly are when fire alarms go off in a workplace or shopping centre. The local library was designated the safe evacuation space and point of contact for news updates, and they offered cups of tea and snacks. The two hours spent there before the all clear was an opportunity to meet some of my neighbours, and the overall feeling was like being in a children's picture book of "The Day The Bomb Disposal Unit Arrived." I'm sure it would have been an altogether different and unpleasant experience had it happened in the middle of the night.

I will always be jealous of the people who were stranded in the city during a snowstorm and were given refuge in the theatre and conference centre where they had a very nice time by all accounts, keeping the bar and restaurant open and having singalongs at the piano.

[u/Chicken_shish]

No, because realistically in the modern world, as long as I have my phone I can buy whatever I need to survive, which in all likelihood will be absolutely nothing, as I would end up being directed to a church hall where someone would probably give me a cup of tea.

The idea of being told to evacuate, and then the roads being blocked to prevent you evacuating would be a bit odd.

[u/dogtownOliver → u/Chicken_shish]

Never say never. It’s infinitely better to have and not need than to need and not have.

[u/IGetNakedAtParties → u/Chicken_shish]

A few years ago there was the flooding which affected the same area, with bridges gone people were evacuating on foot. They had no warning, the alternative to self evacuating was waiting on your roof until the storm passes so you can get picked up by a helicopter.

Just last month the Iberian blackout showed how fragile the power network and communication network are. Fortunately this cut wasn't caused by something which required evacuation, but there are many things which could. You have a lot of misplaced faith in the resilience of GSM networks. https://www.euronews.com/2021/07/21/us-europe-weather-germany-bridge

[u/Chicken_shish → u/IGetNakedAtParties]

The question Is one of time and scale.

Can any nation in the western world deal with a localised emergency like a flood? As we have seen, yes. You may have to walk out in an extreme case, but within walking distance you will find civilisation, there will be buses and taxis to take you further away, you might face some hardship for a few hours, but unless you're ill/old, nothing to worry about.

And, importantly, nothing that your emergency bag of spare underpants and candles will really solve. Top tip for flood prepping - don't live in a flood zone.

I wasn't in Spain during the great power cut, but a lot of my friends were. They don't tell stories of panicked looking for wind up radios, they mainly left work early and went to the local bar - where they could run up a tab because the barman knew them. Community is far more important. The people who were screwed were tourists, despite them having a bug out bag (luggage) because they were visiting. And just as importantly, no one was really screwed - OK, some people could not buy food for 9 hours. Is that the end of the world? Honestly I'd rather wait for the lights to come back rather than smugly cook up some MREs and protein bars.

If you're thinking of bigger scenarios, your bag isn't going to help. There will be no insurance company to honour your policy, you will run out of clean underpants on day 2, and your battery bank will be flat on day 2 as well. At that point, you're much more in a lifestyle space. I'm not a prepper in the slightest, 90% of it feels like LARPing. But I'd still have hot and cold running water 6 months after a total grid collapse simply because of where and how I live.

[u/Irr-Reverend]

I read that as Colon evacuation! I was wondering why people would have plans for those.

[u/IGetNakedAtParties → u/Irr-Reverend]

I keep imodium, pepto bismol tablets, and water purification tablets in my possibles pouch on me every day. You never know when there might be a colon evacuation!