Catastrophic death toll Flooding in Western Europe As rescuers worked hard to clean up the damage and prevent further damage, it rose to over 160 on Saturday.
The death toll in the Rhineland-Palatinate state of western Germany, where the hard-hit Ahrweiler County is located, rose to 98. Another 43 people were confirmed dead in the neighboring state of North Rhine-Westphalia. The Belgian National Crisis Center set the country’s confirmed death toll at 24 and said it expects this number to rise.
This week, days of heavy rain turned ordinary rivers and streets into turbulent torrents and triggered catastrophic floods, which washed out cars, destroyed houses and trapped residents.
After the floods on Wednesday and Thursday, the authorities immediately classified a large number of people as missing-apparently due in large part to the chaos in the affected areas, multiple reports and communication difficulties, some of which lacked electricity and telephones service.
As of Saturday, the authorities were still worried about finding more deaths, but said the number of missing persons had been declining, but did not provide specific figures because the flood subsided in most of the affected areas, facilitating access and revealing the extent of the damage.
After meeting with rescuers and others in Erftstadt, German President Frank-Waltersteinmeier said: “Many people have lost everything they have built in their lives-their property, their Home, the roof over their heads.”
“It may only be possible within a few weeks to figure out how much damage needs to be compensated,” he said.
Steinmeier said people in the affected areas are counting on continued support.
“Many people in these areas have nothing but hope, and we must not let down that hope,” he said.
In Erftstadt, southwest of Cologne, a distressing rescue operation began on Friday when the ground in the community collapsed and at least three houses and part of a mansion in the Blessem district of the town collapsed.
The German military used armored vehicles to clean up flooded cars and trucks on nearby roads, some of which were at least partially submerged. Officials worried that some people could not escape in Erftstadt, but as of Saturday afternoon, no casualties were confirmed.
In the Ahrweiler area, the police warned that the downed electric wires could pose potential risks and urged curious tourists to stay away. They complained on Twitter that potential tourists blocked some roads.
After a dike on the Ruhr broke, about 700 people were evacuated from a part of the German town of Wasenberg on the Dutch border.
The Governor of North Rhine-Westphalia, Armin Laschet, visited Erftstadt with Steinmeier, and he promised to “in the next few days “Organize assistance for those who are immediately affected. He said that regional and federal authorities will discuss how to help the reconstruction work in the next few days. The cabinet of German Chancellor Merkel plans to discuss this issue on Wednesday.
“We will do everything we can to rebuild what needs to be rebuilt,” Raschelt said.
At the eastern border of Belgium, train lines and roads in many areas are still blocked. On Friday, when King Philip and Queen Mathilde visited to provide comfort to residents, a cafe owner in the destroyed town of Pepinster burst into tears.
According to a report by the Belgian national broadcaster RTBF, European Commission President Ursula von der Lein and Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Crowe are visiting flood-damaged towns on Saturday.
The southern part of the Netherlands also suffered severe flooding.
Volunteers work all night to support the dam and protect the road. After being evacuated on Thursday and Friday, thousands of residents were allowed to return to their homes on Saturday morning.
The caretaker prime minister, Mark Rutte, who visited the area on Friday, said: “First, there is a corona, now it is flooding, and soon people will have to clean up and restore.”
“Disaster after disaster, disaster after disaster. But we will not abandon Limburg,” he added, flooding provinces in the south. His government declared the flood into a state of emergency and opened up national funds for the victims.
In other efforts to help flood victims, Hertog Jan, a brewery located in the affected area, distributed 3,000 beer crates to the locals to help them lift their belongings off the ground to protect them from flooding.
In Switzerland, heavy rain caused many rivers and lakes to burst their banks, and the city of Lucerne closed several pedestrian bridges over the Reuss River.
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Angela Charlton in Paris and Molly Quill in Amsterdam contributed to this report.
© 2021 Canadian Press
