Reinickendorf recovers: School openings and tree care after storm!

Reinickendorf recovers: School openings and tree care after storm!

On Thursday, September 4, 2025, three additional school locations were released in Reinickendorf: the Jean Krämer School, the Otfried Preußler School and the Waldsee School. This means that a total of 55 of the district's 59 school locations have reopened. The remaining four schools should be made accessible in time for the start of the new school year. At one of these locations, however, complex tree work using rope climbing technology is required, but this should not delay the opening, as berlin.de reports.

The tale of the storm damage that hit the Reinickendorf district at the beginning of June 2025 has not yet fallen silent. District Mayor Emine Demirbüken-Wegner (CDU) spoke positively about the progress made in restoring the damage caused by the storm. Last week, no fewer than 600 tree care and felling jobs were commissioned.

Progress in repairing storm damage

In total, 5,266 tree care and felling jobs have been scheduled since the devastating storms, which brought gusts of up to 108 km/h. Of these, 2,373 have already been commissioned and 1,390 have been successfully completed. The measures affect, among others, the heavily affected districts of Hermsdorf, Lübars, Waidmannslust and Wittenau. The district's roads and parks department has commissioned the complete work on all streets in this area.

Steinbergpark and the Greenwich promenade with its playground have now been opened to the public again. In Schäferseepark, service companies are busy repairing the damage. Care and felling measures also take place in the amusement park at the Malche in Tegel. Damage to the sports facility and the access road to Kienhorstpark was discovered on Ollenhauerstrasse, which also needs to be addressed.

Lengthy repair of storm damage

Repairing damage from the storm is expected to take months, possibly even into next spring. A total of 180,000 trees in Reinickendorf's parks and forests have to be checked, although many of the damages to tree crowns are often not visible from below and therefore require complex techniques for precise control. It is feared that parks and forests in Reinickendorf could remain closed for a long time, as the entrances in many places are already marked with barrier tape and warning signs. Nevertheless, the ban on entry is often ignored, as rbb24.de reports.

The district mayor is also demanding financial support from the Senate. The estimated cost of the damage is at least four million euros. The district has already started discussions with the Senate and is also asking for support from the Bundeswehr, especially for logistics and additional personnel. Demirbüken-Wegner described the situation as a “catastrophe” and advocated for legal improvements in order to be able to better classify such events in the future.

In this tense situation, the district mayor is very grateful to the employees of the Roads and Parks Department, whose dedicated efforts to combat the effects of the storm are essential. However, an exact timetable for the complete repair of the damage cannot yet be specified as new damage continues to be discovered.