Floodwaters rise in western Europe
Floodwaters were rising in both Germany and Belgium with the death toll over 110 and more than 1,000 people missing Slovíčka
More than 1,000 people were missing and more homes were destroyed in flood-stricken regions of western Germany and Belgium where waters were still rising and the death toll was already at about 117.
Entire communities lay in ruins after swollen rivers swept through towns and villages in the western German states of North Rhine-Westphalia and Rhineland-Palatinate, Belgium as well as the Netherlands.
"It was so terrible, we couldn't help anyone. People were waving out of the windows," Frank Thel, a resident of Schuld, told Reuters in front of a pile of rubble in the town, where several buildings had collapsed.
In Germany alone, 103 people have died in what is the country's worst mass loss of life in years. Twelve of the dead were residents of a home for disabled people in Sinzig south of Cologne who were surprised by the flash floods during the night.
The death toll is expected to rise further as more houses collapsed, while in Belgium, media said at least 14 had died.
Some 114,000 households in Germany were without power and mobile phone networks collapsed in some flooded regions, which meant that family and friends were unable to track down their loved ones.
"Our state is experiencing a flood catastrophe of historic dimensions," North Rhine-Westphalia premier Armin Laschet said, citing extensive damage in 23 towns and rural districts.
In Rhineland-Palatinate, around 1,300 people were reported missing in the Ahrweiler district south of Cologne, the district government said. Further north, in Erftstadt near Cologne, several houses collapsed, and authorities feared casualties.
Residents had been evacuated but some returned home so officials do not know who might be in the houses, district commissioner Frank Rock said, adding: "We are expecting deaths." Roads around Erftstadt were impassable as they were washed away by the floods. Rescue crews tried to reach residents by boat and had to rely on walkie-talkies to relay information.
"The network has completely collapsed. The infrastructure has collapsed. Hospitals can't take anyone in. Nursing homes had to be evacuated," a spokeswoman for the regional government of Cologne said. A district spokesman said some 55 people have been rescued and 15 are still trapped in their houses there.
One dam close to the Belgian border, the Rurtalsperre, flooded, while another, the Steinbachtalsperre, was stabilized earlier. Some 4,500 people have been evacuated from communities downstream, and a stretch of the A61 motorway has been closed amid fears of a breach. The German military has deployed over 700 soldiers to help with rescue efforts.
Text pochází z agentury Reuters
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