WW2 Bomb found in Frankfurt causes biggest evacuation since the war

A similar but smaller bomb found earlier this year.

They found an unexploded 1.8 kiloton British blockbuster bomb this week while digging a new foundation.  They are disarming it today.  That means everyone within a 2.5 K radius has been evacuated.  Our chapel is about 500 m outside that boundary.  

Our chapel (and our apartment) are in the little red circle in the upper right.

Our chapel is open as a sanctuary for anyone who wants one.  The German ward met there, holding only sacrament meeting then had a potluck dinner and are staying open until 8 and the all clear.  Board games are being played.

This is a large cake for the potluck dinner: "cracked" in the shape of the evacuation area.  

Our ward went down and met with the Offenbach branch south of the Main river.  We alternated English and German prayers and hymns.  I sang in German because I like it.  Our final speaker at sacrament meeting was our stake president.  His translator was Elder David Thomas, who had been one of his professors at BYU law school!

All is well. The sun is shining.

War.  The gift that keeps on giving.

Frankfurt am Main.  The bomb is of this photo to the upper right

THOUSANDS EVACUATE HOMES IN GERMANY PRIOR TO DEFUSING OF WWII BOMB

The British-made bomb, which weighs 1.8 tonnes and is two metres in length, was found during building work on the Wismarer Strasse in the Westend district, according to the Frankfurter Rundschau. German media said the bomb was nicknamed "Wohnblockknacker" (blockbuster) during the war for its ability to wipe out whole streets or buildings.

A police spokesperson said on Wednesday that 70,000 people will likely have to leave their homes, meaning that almost one in ten of the city's 717,000 inhabitants will be affected.

BY REUTERS   SEPTEMBER 3, 2017 12:02  

FRANKFURT - Thousands of residents in Frankfurt evacuated their homes early on Sunday ahead of the planned defusing of a massive World War Two bomb discovered on a building site in the German financial capital.

A steady flow of people filed into a temporary center at Frankfurt’s trade fair site, in Germany's biggest evacuation since the war.

The bomb was found last week in the city's leafy Westend suburb, where many wealthy bankers live, and the evacuation area included the country's central bank where $70 billion in gold reserves are stored.

Around 60,000 people had to leave their homes and Frankfurt fire and police chiefs said they would use force if necessary to clear the area, warning that an uncontrolled explosion of the bomb would be big enough to flatten a city block.

Police set up cordons around the evacuation area, which covered a radius of 1.5 km (roughly a mile), as residents dragged suitcases away and many families rode away from the zone by bicycle.

Bus and uBahn lines closed

The fire service said the evacuation of two hospitals, including premature babies and patients in intensive care, had been completed and they were now helping about 500 elderly people leave residences and care homes.

More than 2,000 tonnes of live bombs and munitions are found each year in Germany, even under buildings. In July, a kindergarten was evacuated after teachers discovered an unexploded World War Two bomb on a shelf among some toys.

In Frankfurt, bomb disposal experts will use a special system to try and unscrew the fuses attached to the HC 4,000 bomb from a safe distance. If that fails, a water jet will be used to cut the fuses away from the bomb.

The bomb is assumed to have been dropped by Britain's Royal Air Force during the 1939-45 war. British and American warplanes pummeled the country with 1.5 million tonnes of bombs that killed 600,000 people. Officials estimate 15 percent of the bombs failed to explode, some burrowing six meters (yards) deep.

Three police explosives experts in Goettingen were killed in 2010 while preparing to defuse a 1,000 lb (450 kg) bomb.

Trust me.  People will evacuate.  No one wants the police to come to their door.

Frankfurt police said they would ring every doorbell and use helicopters with heat-sensing cameras to make sure nobody is left behind before they start diffusing the bomb on Sunday.

Roads and transport systems, including the parts of the underground, will be closed during the work and for at least two hours after the bomb is defused, to allow patients to be transported back to hospitals.

Air traffic from Frankfurt airport could also be affected and small private planes, helicopters and drones were banned from the evacuation zone. Most museums were offering residents free entry on Sunday.  (rhs note: some museums were opening as early as 6 AM and said they had extra food and free games and activities for families planned.)