Rescuers search for victims in a car after heavy rainfall in Trooz, Belgium
BRUSSELS, July 23 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Belgian authorities raised the death toll on Thursday from last week’s burst rivers and flash floods to 37, with a further six people missing.
Belgium’s crisis centre, which is coordinating the rescue and relief operation, raised the number of fatalities from a previous 32. It said police experts had so far identified 32 of the deceased.
The Belgian centre added that, of 473 people reported missing, there was still no trace of six.
“For some people there is a possible sign of life, but for others, there is unfortunately a very strong chance that they will be among the fatalities,” the centre said in a statement.
BERLIN: German regions hit by deadly floods last week could see more heavy rain this weekend, the country’s national weather service said.
The DWD weather service said localised storms were likely from midday Saturday, expanding to large parts of Rhineland-Palatinate state later in the day.
Officials said Thursday that the death toll from last week’s floods in the western state had risen to 128. Across Germany, 177 people have been confirmed dead.
Authorities have built a huge camp for rescue workers at the Nuerburgring race track. More than 4,500 civil defence workers, firefighters and soldiers have been deployed to help with cleanup efforts in the badly affected Ahr valley region of Rhineland-Palatinate.
On Wednesday, Germany’s Cabinet approved a roughly 400 million euro (US$472 million) package of immediate aid for flood victims. It promised to get moving quickly on funding plans to rebuild devastated areas, which is expected to cost billions.Advertisement
The extent of the damage has yet to be determined “but it is immense”, Chancellor Angela Merkel said at a news conference in Berlin on Thursday. She noted that Germany’s railway operator, Deutsche Bahn, has said 600km of track were affected.
“We will need a long time to repair all this damage,” she said.
AMSTERDAM: A Dutch investigative panel said it is launching a preliminary probe into the flooding that will focus on “the safety of citizens who were dependent on decision-making and action by governments” for flood prevention and measures taken during last week’s crisis.
There were no flooding casualties in the Netherlands, but raging waters caused widespread damage in the southern province of Limburg that borders both Germany and Belgium. The mayor of the hardest-hit Dutch town, Valkenburg, has said that the tourism center suffered damage to buildings and lost business worth 400 million euros. — NNN-AGENCIES
