Chancellor Angela Merkel described the Floods that devastated parts of Europe as “terrifying” on Sunday after the death toll in the entire region rose to 188 and a district in Bavaria was hit by the extreme weather.
Merkel promised quick financial help after visiting one of the areas hardest hit by record rains and floods, in which at least 157 people were killed in Germany alone in the last few days, in the country’s worst natural disaster in almost six decades.
She also said that governments would have to get better and faster in their efforts to tackle the effects of climate change just days after Europe presented a package of steps towards “net zero” emissions by mid-century.
“It’s frightening,” she told the residents of the small town of Adenau in Rhineland-Palatinate. “The German language can hardly describe the devastation.”
“NOT PREPARED”
While efforts to track down missing people continued, the devastation continued on Sunday as a district in Bavaria, southern Germany, was hit by flash floods in which at least one person died.
Roads became rivers, some vehicles were washed away and areas of the Berchtesgadener Land were buried under thick mud. Hundreds of rescue workers were looking for survivors in the district bordering Austria.
“We weren’t prepared for that,” said Berchtesgaden District District Administrator Bernhard Kern. The situation “drastically” worsened late on Saturday evening and left the emergency services little time to act.
FLOOD TOLL
Around 110 people died in the hardest-hit district of Ahrweiler, south of Cologne. More bodies are expected to be found there as the floods recede, police say.
The European floods that started on Wednesday, particularly affected the federal states of Rhineland-Palatinate, North Rhine-Westphalia and parts of Belgium. Entire communities have been cut off with no electricity or communication.
At least 46 people have died in North Rhine-Westphalia. The death toll in Belgium rose to 31 on Sunday.
IMPACT ON UPCOMING ELECTIONS?
Due to the extent of the floods, they could shake the general election next September.
The North Rhine-Westphalian Prime Minister Armin Laschet, the CDU successor candidate, apologized for the laughter in the background, while Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier spoke to the media after a visit to the destroyed city of Erftstadt.
FINANCIAL HELP
The federal government will provide more than 300 million euros in emergency aid and billions of euros for the repair of collapsed houses, roads and bridges, said Finance Minister Olaf Scholz of the weekly newspaper Bild am Sonntag.
“The damage is huge and one thing is clear: if you have lost your business, your houses, you cannot absorb the losses on your own.”
There could also be a short-term payment of 10,000 euros for companies affected by the effects of the floods and the Covid-19 pandemic, Economics Minister Peter Altmaier told the paper.
ROLE OF CLIMATE CHANGE
Scientists, who have long said climate change will result in heavier rainfall, said it would take several more weeks to determine its role in these relentless rains.
Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo said the link with climate change was clear.
LOCATION IN BELGIUM
In Belgium, which will hold a national day of mourning on Tuesday, 163 people are still missing or unreachable. The crisis center announced that the water level is falling and a huge cleanup operation is underway. The military was sent to the eastern town of Pepinster, where a dozen buildings collapsed to search for more victims.
Around 37,000 households were without electricity and the Belgian authorities said the supply of clean drinking water was also a major problem.
LOCATION IN THE NETHERLANDS
Ambulance officials in the Netherlands said the situation has stabilized somewhat in the southern part of Limburg province, where tens of thousands have been evacuated in recent days, although the northern part is still on high alert.
“In the north they are watching the dikes and whether they are holding,” said Jos Teeuwen from the regional water authority at a press conference on Sunday.
In South Limburg, the authorities are still concerned about the safety of transport infrastructure such as roads and bridges that were destroyed by the flood.
So far, the Netherlands has only reported property damage from the floods and no dead or missing persons.
LOCATION IN AUSTRIA, SWITZERLAND
In Hallein, an Austrian city near Salzburg, a strong flood tore through the city center on Saturday evening when the Kothbach overflowed its banks, but no injuries were reported.
Many areas of the Salzburger Land and the neighboring federal states remain on alert, on Sunday it will continue to rain. The province of West Tyrol reported that the water levels in some areas had been at their highest levels for more than 30 years.
Parts of Switzerland remained on flood alarms, although the threat from some of the most endangered bodies of water, such as Lake Lucerne and the Bernese Aare, has subsided.
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