The biggest evacuation in Cologne since the second world war is under way after the discovery of three unexploded bombs dropped by allied forces 80 years ago.
About 20,000 people are having to leave their homes and businesses, while hotels, a care home for elderly people and a hospital are being evacuated. Three bridges over the Rhine have been closed and rail traffic has been halted or diverted.
Numerous schools, kindergartens, museums and the tram network, as well as the home of the city’s philharmonic orchestra, have had to close after the entire old town was brought to a halt.
The broadcaster RTL had to shift its news programmes to studios in Berlin as its Cologne building sits inside the evacuation area of about 1,000 metres in radius. Several programmes that were due to be transmitted live had to be recorded instead, the broadcaster said.
The bombs are due to be defused on Wednesday morning. They are US-produced bombs, two of 20 tons and one of 10 tons. They were discovered on Monday on the right bank of the Rhine during building works near the Deutz shipworks. All three are equipped with impact fuzes intended to cause detonation on contact with a hard surface.
Volunteers, police and other city authorities will carry out a round of checks ringing on doorbells, calling through letter boxes and gathering information from residents about their neighbours on Wednesday morning before attempts to defuse the bombs can start. Police have said they have the authority to use force to remove anyone who refuses to leave voluntarily. Locals can call a hotline or refer to awebsitefor advice.
Tents and other facilities such as sport halls and churches outside the evacuated area will be open to provide people with food, refreshments and support, city authorities said.
Eighty years after the end of the second world war, such finds are stillnot unusual in Cologne, which was among Germany’s most heavily bombed cities during the conflict. It was hit in 262 air raids carried out by the RAF, sometimes using US-produced bombs, especially towards the end of the conflict. About 20,000 people were killed in the bombing raids.
On the night of 30 May 1942, the city was the target of the RAF’s first “thousand-bomber raid” on a German city. More than 1,000 aircraft were dispatched, flying in a narrow “bomber stream” formation, the density of which had the effect of overwhelming German radar and defences. On this single night, 868 bombers attacked the city with 1,455 tons of bombs in what was known as Operation Millennium.
It is not yet known exactly when the bombs currently awaiting defusing were dropped.