Overview

• The July 2021 flood in North Rhine-Westphalia claimed 49 lives and caused €13 billion in damages, prompting a parliamentary investigation into the disaster response.
• NRW Minister Ina Scharrenbach (CDU) expressed regret for attending a private Mallorca event shortly after the flood, reiterating that she would not make the same decision today.
• The investigation faced delays due to a legal dispute over withheld documents, with Scharrenbach's ministry eventually providing 425,000 pages after a court ruling.
• Scharrenbach’s former staff testified that she continued working during the Mallorca trip, though the absence of official calendar entries obscured her location.
• The inquiry also examined actions by other officials, including Scharrenbach’s former state secretary, who remained on vacation in France during the crisis, citing no urgent need to return.