A landslide makes waves

In the small village of Emerange in the municipality of Schengen, a stream called the "Aalbach" or "Gander" separates Luxembourg from France. When a landslide on the French side almost completely blocked the flow of the water about two months ago, the residents of Emerange were in an uproar – and still are. That's because the owner of a property in Puttelange-lès-Thionvilles, just across the river, has only made a makeshift job of clearing the creek of soil. "At one point the river was eight meters wide, now it's only two meters wide", estimates a local resident. He fears that the narrowing will affect flood risk in the village.

Manuela Boesen shares this fear. She lives in a house that borders directly on the "Aalbach". Up until now, her cellar has only been flooded once, in May 2016, when heavy rains caused flooding throughout the country. Because of the significant narrowing of the waterbed, she now worries that the water will rise faster in the future during heavy downpours and recede more slowly.