Unsuspecting citizens were caught off guard through the torrent dubbed the “flood of death” via the German newspaper Bild.
“All underwater in 15 minutes,” Agron Berischa, a 21-year-old decorator from Bad Neuenahr in Rhineland-Palatinate, told AFP.
In the vicinity of the town of Schuld, Hans-Dieter Vrancken, 65, said that “caravans, cars were razed, trees were uprooted, houses were torn down. “
Roger Lewentz, Rhineland-Palatinate’s interior minister, told Bild that the death toll would likely rise as the emergency continued to search for the affected spaces in the coming days.
With more deaths discovered in the state on Friday night, the number of deaths nationwide has risen to 108.
In neighboring Belgium, the government showed that the death toll had risen to 20 (previous reports had said 23 had died) with more than 21,000 people without power in one region.
Luxembourg and the Netherlands also suffered heavy rains that flooded many areas and forced thousands of people to be evacuated in the city of Maastricht.
In the hard-hit German district of Ahrweiler in Rhineland-Palatinate, several houses collapsed, comparing them to the aftermath of a tsunami.
“I am concerned that we will see the full extent of the crisis in the coming days,” Chancellor Angela Merkel said Thursday night from Washington, where she met with President Joe Biden.
In Arweiler, about 1,300 more people were missing, the local government told Bild that the higher number was likely due to broken phone networks.
– Billions of damages –
In Belgium, the army sent 4 of the country’s 10 provinces to help with rescue and evacuations.
In Switzerland, lakes and rivers were also swelling after heavy afternoon rains. In Lucerne in particular, Lake Lucerne had begun to flood the city center.
But there was some improvement on Friday when the water point started to drop.
Violent storms put the climate back at the center of Germany’s electoral crusade ahead of the September 26 elections that marked the end of Merkel’s 16 years in power.
The country “must prepare much better” in the future, Interior Minister Horst Seehofer said, adding that “these excessive weather situations are the result of climate change. “
In urban spaces and poorly weary buildings in flood zones, the damage can be significant.
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