16, July 2021
Hundreds missing in Germany after massive floods leave scores dead 0
German emergency responders were on Friday still searching for hundreds of missing people after the worst floods in living memory killed at least 81 in the country’s west.
“I fear that we will only see the full extent of the disaster in the coming days,” Chancellor Angela Merkel said from Washington, where she met with President Joe Biden.
Catching residents of several regions unaware and leaving destruction and despair in their wake, the masses of water were dubbed the “flood of death” by top-selling daily Bild.
Neighbouring Belgium counted at least nine dead, while Luxembourg and the Netherlands were also severely affected by the torrents of water, with thousands evacuated in the city of Maastricht.
But Germany’s toll was by far the highest at 81, and likely to rise with large numbers of people still missing in North Rhine-Westphalia and Rhineland-Palatinate, the hardest-hit states.
“It is a catastrophe. There are dead, missing and many are still in danger,” says Malu Dreyer, President of German state of Rheinland Pfalz, hit by devastating floods.
In the devastated Ahrweiler district of Rhineland-Palatinate around 1,300 people were unaccounted for, although local authorities told Bild the high number was likely down to damaged phone networks.
Regional interior minister Roger Lewentz told broadcaster SWR that “we believe there are still 40, 50 or 60 people missing, and when you haven’t heard for people for such a long time … you have to fear the worst.”
“The number of victims will likely keep rising in the coming days,” he added.
‘Disaster’
What’s more, continuing rain is forecast for parts of the west, where water levels in the Rhine river and its tributaries are rising dangerously.
Around 1,000 soldiers have been deployed to help with rescue operations and rubble-clearing in affected towns and villages.
Streets and houses under water, overturned cars and uprooted trees could be seen everywhere the floodwaters had passed, while some districts were cut off from the outside world.
In Ahrweiler several houses collapsed completely, leaving the impression the town had been struck by a tsunami.
At least 20 people had been confirmed dead in Euskirchen, one of the worst-hit towns just to the north.
Its normally spick and span centre had been turned into a heap of rubble, with house facades torn off by the rushing floods.
Adding to the town’s woes, a nearby dam remains at risk of giving way.
“My empathy and my heart go out to all of those who in this catastrophe lost their loved ones, or who are still worrying about the fate of people still missing,” Merkel told reporters in Washington.
She said her government would not leave those affected “alone with their suffering”, adding that it was doing its “utmost to help them in their distress”.
Pensioner Annemarie Mueller, 65, looking out at her flooded garden and garage from her balcony, said her town of Mayen had been completely unprepared for the destruction.
“Where did all this rain come from? It’s crazy,” she told AFP, recalling the floodwater crashing through her street during the night.
“It made such a loud noise and given how fast it came down, we thought it would break the door down.”
Four people are still missing in Belgium and the army has been sent to four of the country’s 10 provinces to help with rescue and evacuations.
With homes under water since Wednesday, people from resort town Spa were being put up in tents.
The swollen Meuse river “is going to look very dangerous for Liege”, a nearby city of 200,000 people, said Wallonia regional president Elio Di Rupo.
Climate change?
The storms have put climate change back at the centre of Germany’s election campaign ahead of a September 26 parliamentary poll marking the end of Merkel’s 16 years in power.
Germany “must prepare much better” in future, Interior Minister Horst Seehofer said, adding that “this extreme weather is a consequence of climate change”.
Because a warmer atmosphere holds more water, climate change increases the risk and intensity of flooding from extreme rainfall.
In urban areas with poor drainage and buildings located in flood zones, the damage can be severe.
Political candidates were quick to open a bidding war on climate following the floods.
North Rhine-Westphalia premier Armin Laschet, the conservative running to succeed Merkel, called for “speeding up” global efforts to fight climate change, underlining the link between global warming and extreme weather.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP)
18, July 2021
Bundes: Dr Merkel visits areas devastated by ‘terrifying’ floods as death toll tops 180 in Europe 0
Chancellor Angela Merkel visited flood-ravaged areas of Germany on Sunday to survey the damage and meet survivors after days of extreme rainfall in western Europe left at least 183 people dead and dozens missing.
Merkel travelled to the village of Schuld in Rhineland-Palatinate state, one of the two hardest-hit regions in western Germany where the swollen Ahr river swept away houses and left debris piled high in the streets.
“We are by your side,” Merkel told residents of the small town Adenau, calling the situation there “terrifying”.
The chancellor said she was overwhelmed by the “surreal, eerie” devastation she had seen.
“It is shocking – I can almost say that the German language doesn’t have words for the destruction that has been unleashed,” she told reporters.
Merkel also pledged that a short-term relief programme would be launched by the government on Wednesday.
At least 156 people have died since Wednesday in Germany’s worst flooding in living memory, police said in an update Sunday morning. In Rhineland-Palatinate state alone, police reported 110 dead and 670 injured.
At least 27 people have also lost their lives in neighbouring Belgium.
Today I went to Rochefort and Pepinster. I saw the devastation caused by the floods.
My heart ached as I met people who have lost their homes, the savings of a lifetime.
Rescue crews in both countries were sifting through rubble to find victims, often in dangerous conditions.
The historic downpours also battered Switzerland, Luxembourg and the Netherlands.
As the waters began to recede in Rhineland-Palatinate and neighbouring North-Rhine Westphalia (NRW), concern shifted south to Germany’s Upper Bavaria region, where heavy rains inundated basements and swelled rivers and creeks late Saturday.
One person died in Berchtesgadener Land, a spokeswoman for the Bavarian district told AFP.
In Austria, emergency workers in the Salzburg and Tyrol regions were on high alert for flooding. The historic town centre of Hallein, near the German frontier, was under water.
“Heavy rains and storms are unfortunately causing severe damage in several places in Austria,” Chancellor Sebastian Kurz said on Twitter. Merkel has called the floods a “tragedy” and pledged support from the federal government for Germany’s stricken municipalities.
Speaking alongside US President Joe Biden at the White House on Thursday, Merkel said her “heart goes out to all of those who in this catastrophe lost their loved ones”.
The government has said it is working to set up a special aid fund, with the cost of damage expected to reach several billion euros.
The scale of the flood impact was gradually becoming clear in Germany, with damaged buildings being assessed, some of which will have to be demolished, and efforts under way to restore gas, electricity and telephone services.
In some areas, soldiers used armoured vehicles to clear the debris clogging streets.
In North-Rhine Westphalia, divers were sent in to search submerged homes and vehicles.
Local authorities in NRW and Rhineland-Palatinate said dozens of people remain unaccounted for across both states.
They have stressed, however, that disruption to communication networks made a precise assessment difficult, and the real number of missing could be lower.
Roger Lewentz, interior minister for Rhineland-Palatinate, said more than 670 people were injured.
“I’ve lived here my whole life, I was born here, and I’ve never seen anything like it,” said Gregor Degen, a baker in the devastated spa town of Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler near Schuld.
Across the border in Belgium, the death toll jumped to 27 with many people still missing.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Prime Minister Alexander de Croo visited the flooded areas of Rochefort and Pepinster together on Saturday.
“Europe is with you,” von der Leyen tweeted afterwards. “We are with you in mourning and we will be with you in rebuilding.”
Belgium has declared Tuesday a day of official mourning.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP)