At least 67 dead in Germany and Belgium as storms ravage Europe

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At least 67 dead in Germany and Belgium as storms ravage Europe

9:42 CAT | 16 Jul 2021

A destroyed car seen next to the Ahr river, following heavy rainfalls in Schuld, Germany yesterday. (Reuters)

Heavy rains and floods lashing western Europe have killed at least 59 people in Germany and eight in Belgium, and many more people are missing as rising waters caused several houses to collapse yesterday.

Unusually heavy rains also inundated neighbouring Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Belgium, where at least four people were reported dead and people were ordered to evacuate a riverbank in one city.

In Germany, which is experiencing one of the worst weather disasters since World War II, desperate residents sought refuge on the roofs of their homes as helicopters circled above.

Chancellor Angela Merkel, on a visit to Washington, said she was “shocked” by the humanitarian “disaster”, calling it a “tragedy” for the nation.

North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) premier Armin Laschet called for “speeding up” global efforts to fight climate change, underlining the link between global warming and extreme weather.

Because a warmer atmosphere holds more water, climate change increases the risk and intensity of flooding from extreme rainfall.

The North Rhine-Westphalia interior ministry tallied four more bodies recovered, taking the region’s toll to at least 31, while neighbouring Rhineland-Palatinate said nine more deaths were likely in addition to 19 recovered in the region around the western town of Ahrweiler alone.

Up to 70 people are missing, a police spokesman told AFP.

NRW’s Euskirchen district reported 15 dead, while four more victims were found in the municipality of Schuld south of Bonn where six houses were swept away by floods.

Several other bodies were recovered from flooded cellars across the region.

In NRW and Rhineland-Palatinate, some 200,000 households were reportedly without electricity.

Police set up a crisis hotline for reporting missing loved ones and residents were asked to send in videos and photos that could help them in the search.

Belgium has also seen several days of heavy rain that has caused rivers in the French-speaking region of Wallonia to burst their banks.

Four were reported dead.

Meanwhile, Dutch safety workers have evacuated hundreds of homes in the southern town of Roermond.

The Luxembourg government set up a crisis cell to respond to emergencies triggered by heavy rains overnight as Prime Minister Xavier Bettel reported “several homes” had been flooded and were “no longer inhabitable”.

Source: AFP