The Bundesbank processed the flood money from the Ahr Valley using standard household tumble dryers. One of them is now moving to the House of History in Bonn.

It is a very unusual case for the Bundesbank: it has never had to process so much wet and dirty cash as from the flood disaster in the Ahr Valley.

From July 2021 to the end of January 2022, it accepted and refunded notes and coins worth more than 100 million euros.

A good 1.5 million wet banknotes were handed in, some of which were also contaminated with oil and dirt.

The number was also so high because Volksbanks and savings banks in the region had also been flooded with their safes.

Around a million wet banknotes came from banks and 500,000 from private individuals.

The Bundesbank has hired additional employees to dry the banknotes and has purchased a number of household tumble dryers.

One of them is now coming to the House of History in Bonn to commemorate the extraordinary event.

The bills had to be carefully dried in order to be counted;otherwise bundled bills in particular would have formed hard packets.

In addition to the dryers, tennis balls were purchased, which were put in the dryers to avoid tilting during drying.

The Bundesbank also used cobblestones to smooth the banknotes out of the dryer.

Fragrance additives were also put into the dryers, because otherwise the fumes from the dirty flood money would have been unbearable.

"It wasn't solemn," said Beermann.

In addition, one could only fill the money of one submitter in one round at the dryer, so that it was clear afterwards how much the person was reimbursed.

To read the complete article, see:
Bundesbank dries flood money: One citizen got a million euros wet(https://www.tellerreport.com/business/2022-02-09-bundesbank-dries-flood-money--one-citizen-got-a-million-euros-wet.SkUZuV4by5.html)