Stammheim-Flittard Embankment

<< Stammheim-Flittarder Dam at the Flittarder Rheinaue nature reserve >>
"For hundreds of years, people have lived in close proximity to the Rhine. The farming and fishing village of Flittard was first mentioned in a document in 989 (HBHistSt NRW 2006, p. 604, although the document is considered "possibly forged"), and the town of Stammheim as early as 959. Since then, people have lived with and from the river, profiting from it and suffering equally from its proximity. It was only when the dyke was built in 1894 and 1895 that this situation changed.
The hundred-year-old Stammheim-Flittarder Dam begins in Stammheim and runs north along the river to the end of the Flittarder Rheinaue nature reserve. A footpath and cycle path runs on the dam itself and parallel to it, offering the opportunity to go for recreational walks from the proximity to the river. benefit.Since the beginning of settlement in Stammheim and Flittard, people have tried to control and change the course of the Rhine. The banks were subject to constant changes. A fixed course as we see it today was not the norm for a long time. When landowners on one side tried to increase their property by trying to wrest land from the Rhine, this often led to demolitions on the other side of the bank.
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During floods, the Rhine often overflowed its banks, posing a danger to the towns located directly on the river, as well as a loss of income for farmers with fields in the flooded area. One of the worst floods was the event in the winter of 1784, in which the town of Mülheim was most severely damaged, but Flittard was not left unscathed either. In the harsh winter, the Rhine was completely frozen, so that the population still used it as a sledding area in January. Heavy rainfall caused the water level to rise so much that the ice began to move in February. The masses of water with huge blocks of ice made their way through the towns and left a scene of destruction. To protect the population, stone protective walls were first built in 1851 and then groynes were built in the Rhine. In 1894, it was decided to build a protective dike. The Stammheim-Flittarder dam was built within two years.In front of the dam towards the water there is a small floodplain landscape. This part of the riverbank area was left out of the dyke and now also serves as flood protection. Especially near densely populated areas, floodplains are of essential importance in order to give the river the opportunity to overflow its banks in a targeted manner and thus spare inhabited areas. The flora and fauna of floodplain meadows depend on the interplay of flooding and drying out. Since such areas are becoming increasingly rare, but are important for many rare and endangered species, the Flittard Rhine floodplain has been designated a nature reserve.
At the same time, there are parts that are used for agriculture. Extensive cultivation has taken place in this area of the Rhine bank since the beginning of Flittard's settlement. In order to reclaim land from the Rhine, pasture plantations were primarily established. The plants flourished quickly, sediments carried by the river accumulated in the plants and quickly formed small sandbanks. These were secured with the help of further plantings, which meant that the areas could soon be used as fertile commercial land."(Hannah Brüggemann, NABU Nature Conservation Station Leverkusen-Cologne, 2014)
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