Belgians pick up the pieces after deadly floods

With more than 25 dead after flooding in eastern Belgium, DW spoke with residents struggling to come to terms with the devastation and move on in the town of Pepinster.

The Belgian town of Pepinster, southeast of Liege, has just woken up from a nightmare. Wading through kneehigh brown water with his wife and son, local resident Paul Brasseur looked back at what was left of their family home. "We're alive and that's all that matters — not everyone was so lucky," he said.

The Brasseurs' house on the banks of a tributary of the Meuse River was among dozens engulfed by floodwaters a few nights ago. "The water started coming in and we realized we weren't safe downstairs so we went up — but around 6 a.m. we realized even the second floor was going to go under," Brasseur told DW. "We managed to get out and get onto the roof but we had to leave our dog behind. Then we moved between roofs to find somewhere safe. We were there for nine hours before we were finally rescued."

Neighbors swept away as houses collapsed

Brasseur was close to tears as he recounted his family's ordeal. "I saw the houses on the other side of the river collapsing. I saw people falling out and getting washed away in the river. One woman had her hands joined in prayer as she fell into the water," he said.

The supermarket worker was still in disbelief. "There were 6 meters [20 feet] of water. Six meters — can you imagine?" he said. Brasseur has lived in Pepinster since he was 10 years old and has seen floods before, "but they were nothing like this — nothing."

Dozens dead and many more missing

Pepinster, in the east of Belgium — around 50 kilometers (31 miles) from the German border — was destroyed by the flash flooding that wrought devas