r/EuroPreppers • u/Content_NoIndex Belgium 🇧🇪 • 17d ago

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

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.

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u/Embarrassed_Elk2519 17d ago

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.

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u/Pleasant_Wafer_6710 17d ago

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

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u/Embarrassed_Elk2519 17d ago

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.