The villages in the Ahrweiler district were mostly destroyed and flooded after the storm (photo taken with drone). (Photo: Boris Rosler/Photo Union via Getty Images)
- At least 45 people were killed, and officials reported that as many as 70 people were missing.
- The German military deployed about 400 soldiers in the two affected states to assist with rescue efforts.
- In the town of Chaudfontaine, the Daily Evening News reported that nearly 1,800 people had to be evacuated.
The heavy rains and floods that swept through Western Europe killed at least 45 people in Germany, and many more were missing as the rising water levels on Thursday caused several houses to collapse.
Unusual heavy rain also flooded neighboring Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Belgium, and at least four people were reported dead.
Rhineland-Palatinate and North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) are the states most affected by floods in Germany. Floods have caused the river to burst its banks and may destroy more houses.
A police spokesperson told AFP that at least 18 bodies had been found in the area around the western town of Ahrweiler alone. Local officials had earlier reported that as many as 70 people were missing.
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Further north, 15 deaths were reported in the Euskirchen district of North Rhine-Westphalia.
Desperate residents sought refuge on the roofs of their homes as helicopters hovered above to rescue them from the rising waters.
Annemarie Mueller, a 65-year-old pensioner, looked at the flooded garden and garage from the balcony. She said her town of Mayen was completely unprepared for destruction.
She told AFP:
Where does this rain come from? This is crazy.
“It makes such a loud noise, and considering the speed at which it drops, we think it will break the door.”
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said she was “shocked” by the disaster and thanked the “tireless volunteers and emergency services” at the scene.
North Rhine-Westphalia leader Amin Raschelt will replace Merkel in the September election. He canceled a party meeting in Bavaria to investigate the destruction in Germany’s most populous state.
“We will support the affected towns and people,” Lashet, wearing rubber boots, told reporters in the town of Hagen.
-‘Go to a higher floor’-
A spokesman for the Koblenz city police said that four of the dead were located in the city of Schulder, south of Bonn, where six houses were destroyed by the flood.
Several other bodies were found in a flooded cellar in the area.
The villages in the Ahrweiler district were mostly destroyed and flooded after the storm (photo taken with drone). In the process, the flood water washed the branches and garbage into the village and piled up like mountains. At least six houses were destroyed by the flood. Photo: Boris Roessler/dpa (Photo: Boris Roessler/Photo Union via Getty Images)
The Ministry of Environment of the Rhineland-Palatinate state warned that floods on the Rhine and Moselle are expected to increase as rainfall increases.
In North Rhine-Westphalia alone, 135,000 households were without electricity.
Emergency rescuers tried to evacuate people from the building in danger. On Wednesday, two firefighters were killed while performing missions in Altena and Wildor.
The police set up a crisis hotline to report missing relatives and asked residents to send videos and photos to help them find them.
District official Juergen Pfoehler urged people to stay at home and “go to higher floors if possible.”
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The German military deployed about 400 soldiers in the two affected states to assist with rescue efforts.
In the city of Leverkusen, a power outage caused by the storm caused a hospital with 468 patients to be evacuated.
The municipality reported that after intensive care patients were transferred to other facilities overnight, other wards would have to be cleaned up in one day.
-‘Little experience’-
Belgium also experienced a few days of heavy rain, which caused the river in the French-speaking Wallonia region to burst its banks. Four people were reported dead.
The provinces of Liege and Namur were particularly affected, and the resort town of Spa was completely flooded. In the town of Chaudfontaine, the Daily Evening News reported that nearly 1,800 people had to be evacuated.
The country’s Infrabel railway network said it is suspending services in the southern half of the country due to the risks of travel.
The southern province of Limburg in the Netherlands, which borders Germany and Belgium, also reported that Valkenburg, a small city west of Maastricht, may be cut off due to rising water levels, causing extensive damage.
Local news footage showed that at least one nursing home had been evacuated from the river flowing through the beautiful downtown streets.
Officials have also closed several roads, including the busy A2 highway, while people are still worried that heavy rains in Germany and Belgium will push up river water levels when they reach the Netherlands.
At the same time, the Luxembourg government set up a crisis team to respond to an emergency caused by a torrential rain overnight, as Prime Minister Xavier Bettel reported that “several houses” were flooded and “no longer suitable.” live”.
