Premium Content Subscriber only AS THE man in charge of a large rural area that usually celebrates every precious drop of rain, the catastrophic flood of 2011 was as bizarre a sight as anything Group Officer Dave Wandel can remember. Mr Wandel was in charge of the Prenzlau Rural Fire Brigade when the floods hit in January of that year, and while he lived only a short distance away, there was so much water being dumped on the ground that road access to work was cut off. In fact, of the 105 square-kilometre zone that the Prenzlau crews were responsible for, an astonishing 80 per cent was under water.