Flooding leaves dozens dead, missing
Dozens missing across Belgium, Germany
• At least 42 people have died in Germany and dozens were missing on Thursday as swollen rivers caused by record rainfall across western Europe swept through towns and villages, leaving cars upended, houses destroyed and people stranded on rooftops.
Eighteen people died and dozens were unaccounted for around the wine-growing region of Ahrweiler, in Rhineland-palatinate state, police said, after the Ahr river that flows into the Rhine broke its banks and brought down half a dozen houses.
Another 15 people died in the Euskirchen region south of Bonn, authorities said. People in region were asked to evacuate their homes.
In Belgium, two men died due to the torrential rain and a 15-year-old girl was missing after being swept away by an overflowing river.
Hundreds of soldiers and 2,500 relief workers were helping police with rescue efforts in Germany. Tanks were deployed to clear roads of landslides and fallen trees, and helicopters winched those stranded on rooftops to safety. Around 200,000 households lost power.
In Ahrweiler, two wrecked cars were propped steeply against either side of the town's stone gate and locals used snow shovels and brooms to sweep mud from their homes and shops after the flood waters receded.
“I was totally surprised. I had thought that water would come in here one day, but nothing like this,” resident Michael Ahrend told Reuters. “This isn't a war — it's simply nature hitting out. Finally, we should start paying attention to it.”
The floods have caused Germany's worst mass loss of life in years. Flooding in 2002 killed 21 people in eastern Germany and more than 100 across the wider central European region.
Chancellor Angela Merkel expressed her dismay.
“I am shocked by the catastrophe that so many people in the flood areas have to endure. My sympathy goes out to the families of the dead and missing.”
In Washington for a farewell visit before she steps down following a federal election in September, Merkel promised financial aid for those affected.
In Belgium, around 10 houses collapsed in Pepinster after the river Vesdre flooded the eastern town and residents were evacuated from more than 1,000 homes.
Downstream in the Netherlands, thousands of people on Thursday were urged to leave their houses quickly to escape floods as rivers were on the brink of bursting their banks.
In addition to the fatalities in the Euskirchen region, another nine people, including two firefighters, died elsewhere in North Rhine-westphalia. In the town of Schuld, houses were reduced to piles of debris and broken beams. Roads were blocked by wreckage and fallen trees.