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Rescuers rushed on Saturday to find survivors and victims of the devastation caused by the worst floods in Western Europe in living memory, which have already claimed more than 150 lives and dozens are missing.
West Germany suffered the most brutal impact of the flood which also hit Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands, leaving streets and houses submerged in muddy water and isolating entire communities.
With the death toll in Germany at 133 three days after the start of the disaster, rescuers said many more bodies were likely to be found in soggy cellars and collapsed houses.
“We have to assume that we will find other victims,” said Carolin Weitzel, mayor of Erftstadt, where a terrifying landslide was triggered by the floods.
In the worst-affected German states of North Rhine-Westphalia and Rhineland-Palatinate, residents who fled the flood were gradually returning home and to scenes of desolation on Saturday.
“Within minutes, a wave entered the house,” baker Cornelia Schloesser told AFP of the torrents that hit the town of Schuld, taking her century-old family business with them.
“It’s been a nightmare for 48 hours, we go around in circles here but there is nothing we can do,” she said, pacing the piles of twisted metal, broken glass and wood that have piled up in her old one. storefront.
In neighboring Belgium, the death toll rose to 20 with up to 20 people still missing and more than 21,000 without electricity in one region.
Prime Minister Alexander de Croo was heading towards the scene of what he called “unprecedented” flood damage. He declared Tuesday the official day of mourning.
Luxembourg and the Netherlands were also hammered by heavy rains, inundating many areas and forcing thousands of people to be evacuated in the city of Maastricht.
“Huge” task
A ruptured dam in the German district of Heinsberg, 65 kilometers (40 miles) southwest of Düsseldorf, prompted the emergency evacuation of more than 700 residents.
In some disaster areas, firefighters, local elected officials and soldiers, some tank drivers, have started the colossal work of clearing the piles of debris that clutter the streets.
“The task is immense,” said Tim Kurzbach, mayor of Solingen, a town in the southern Ruhr area.
The true scale of the disaster is only now apparent, with the assessment of damaged buildings, some of which will have to be demolished, and efforts underway to restore gas, electricity and telephone services.
The disruption of communications networks has complicated efforts to assess the still missing number, and most roads in the submerged Ahr Valley are out of service.
More than 90 of the dead lived in his neighborhood of Ahrweiler, including 12 residents of a home for the disabled who drowned in the rising waters.
Roger Lewentz, Interior Minister of Rhineland-Palatinate, told local media that up to 60 people are reported missing. More than 600 were injured.
The government said it was working to set up a special aid fund, with the cost of the damage expected to reach several billion euros.
Chancellor Angela Merkel, returning from a trip to Washington eclipsed by the disaster on Friday, pledged to provide “short and long-term government support” to the affected municipalities.
Her spokeswoman said on Friday she was in close contact with regional leaders about “an upcoming visit to the scene of the disaster.”
Focus on climate change
The devastating floods put climate change back at the center of the election campaign in Germany ahead of the September 26 poll marking the end of Merkel’s 16 years in power.
President Frank-Walter Steinmeier called for a more “determined” battle against global warming in light of the disaster, ahead of a visit to Erftstadt on Saturday.
Armin Laschet of Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union, the favorite to succeed the veteran chancellor, spoke of “a disaster of historic proportions”.
News magazine Der Spiegel said the floods would shed light on candidates’ response to climate change.
“There will be claims in the next few days that this is not a problem for the campaign but of course it is,” he said.
“People want to know how politicians will lead them through something like this.”
German reinsurance giant Munich Re has said countries should expect an increasing “frequency and intensity” of natural disasters due to the climate emergency, calling for preventive action “which, in the final analysis, will be less expensive”.
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