Europe floods death toll crosses 150
Dutch PM Rutte says ‘without doubt’ global warming behind disastrous floods
BERLIN: The death toll from disastrous flooding in western Europe rose above 150 on Saturday as rescue workers toiled to clear up the devastation and prevent further damage.
Police said that more than 90 people are now known to have died in western Germany’s Ahrweiler county, one of the worsthit areas, and more casualties are feared. On Friday, authorities gave a death toll of 63 for Rhineland-Palatinate state, where Ahrweiler is located.
Another 43 people were confirmed dead in neighbouring North Rhine-Westphalia state, Germany’s most populous.
By Saturday, waters were receding across much of the affected regions, but officials feared that more bodies might be found in cars and trucks that were swept away.
German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier planned to travel on Saturday to Erftstadt, southwest of Cologne, where a harrowing rescue effort unfolded on Friday as people were trapped when the ground gave way and their homes collapsed.
Many areas were still without electricity and telephone service - something that, along with multiple counting in some cases, appeared to have accounted in part for large numbers of missing people that authorities gave immediately after the floods hit on Wednesday and Thursday.
Around 700 people were evacuated from part of the German town of Wassenberg, on the Dutch border, after the breach of a dike on the Rur river.
Chancellor Angela Merkel, who returned on Friday from a trip to Washington overshadowed by the disaster, vowed to provide “short and long-term support from the government” to stricken municipalities.
Her spokesman said she was in close contact with regional leaders about “a visit soon to the scene of the catastrophe”.
Heavy flooding hits Belgium, Netherlands
In addition to worst-hit Germany and Belgium, southern parts of the Netherlands also have been hit by heavy flooding.
Belgian broadcaster RTBF reported that the death toll in Belgium rose to 27 on Saturday. More than 21,000 people were left without electricity in one region of Belgium.
Luxembourg and the Netherlands were also hammered by heavy rains, inundating many areas and forcing thousands to be evacuated in the city of Maastricht.
Volunteers worked through the night to shore up dikes and protect roads.
Thousands of residents of the southern Dutch towns of Bunde, Voulwames, Brommelen and Geulle were allowed to return home on Saturday morning after being evacuated on Thursday and Friday.
Caretaker Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said that the region faced “three disasters”.
“First, there was corona, now these floods, and soon people will have to work on clean-up and recovery,” he said. Asked whether global warming had contributed to the disaster, Rutte said that was “without a doubt the case”.
“I don’t want to make hasty declarations,” he said. “But something is really happening, let’s be clear.”
In Switzerland, heavy rain has caused several rivers and lakes to burst their banks, with authorities in the city of Lucerne closing several pedestrian bridges over the Reuss river.
Luxembourg Prime Minister Xavier Bettel pledged an initial package of 50 million euros ($59 million) in immediate aid to citizens who suffered losses in the floods.