BERLIN, July 18 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The number of people who have died in the devastating flooding in western Germany rose further on Saturday, while the president thanked rescue workers who continued to search for survivors.
Early on Saturday, the death toll reached 133, after police announced 90 fatalities in the Ahrweiler district in Rhineland-Palatinate, while 43 were confirmed in North Rhine Westphalia late on Friday.
Rescue work continued across Europe where more than 150 people have died in the flooding after heavy rainfall hit parts of Germany, Belgium, France, Switzerland, Luxembourg and the Netherlands.
In Germany, President Frank-Walter Steinmeier expressed his heartfelt thanks to those aiding the rescue efforts, noting that many had worked to the point of exhaustion and beyond.
He joined North Rhine Westphalia state Premier Armin Laschet in a visit to Erftstadt, where numerous houses and cars were washed away in recent days.
Laschet meanwhile promised that aid would be provided swiftly and without excessive bureaucracy, during his visit. He described the situation as the “disaster of the century” and said helping the region affected was a “national task.”
In Erftstadt-Blessem, several buildings and parts of a historic castle were destroyed due to a sink hole and major landslides.
Bundeswehr troops have begun clearing cars stuck in the floods on a nearby main road using light wheeled tanks.
Many people remain unaccounted for more than two days after massive flooding hit the region and search and rescue efforts are ongoing. Images of devastation have shocked the nation.
More than 23,000 emergency forces were working in rescue operations in the state of North Rhine Westphalia, according to the regional government.
Some 700 residents of Ophoven were evacuated from their homes on Friday evening after a dam broke in the Heinsberg district in the western state. The situation remained tense early on Saturday morning, according to a statement issued by the town close to the Dutch border.
Chancellor Angela Merkel pledged support for those affected by flooding during a Friday video conference with Laschet, who is also the frontrunner to succeed Merkel at the September election.
Merkel also plans to travel to hard-hit parts of Rhineland-Palatinate on Sunday, the state chancellery in Mainz told dpa.
Thousands of emergency workers are in the Eifel region, where the deluge devastated entire towns on Thursday night. Damaged power and telephone lines and interruptions to mobile phone services have made it harder to locate people.
Experts were monitoring a dam in Euskirchen closely that was highly unstable, according to the Cologne district government. The danger of flooding remained acute, the official statement said.
Across the border in Belgium, the death toll from floods and heavy downpours has risen to 24, Belgium’s National Crisis Centre (CCN) said on Saturday morning, as the small country took stock of the damage from recent days.
“Unfortunately, we must take into account that this number will increase again in the days and hours to come,” the government body said in an online statement.
Emergency workers continue their rescue efforts on the ground, the CCN said, but in the badly-affected Liege province, search operations are “practically finished.”
Prime Minister Alexander De Croo visited affected communities on Saturday accompanied by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, Belga news agency reported. The EU executive branch is based in the Belgian capital, Brussels.
De Croo said he was very touched after meeting emergency workers and inhabitants of two towns badly affected by flooding, Rochefort and Pepinster.
“Considerable damage, pain but also enormous solidarity,” De Croo tweeted.
The presence of European Commission President von der Leyen during his visit “shows this solidarity transcends borders,” the Belgian leader said.
Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said he had offered help to Germany and Belgium, in comments to Radio Olsztyn. The Polish president expressed his sympathies in a letter to Steinmeier on Friday. — NNN-AGENCIES
