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In Germany and other European countries, work continues to eliminate the consequences of the worst flooding in decades. At the moment, it has been established that the natural disaster claimed the lives of 184 people. Of these, 157 died in Germany, transfers Reuters.
More than a hundred people have died in the worst-affected district of Ahrweiler, south of Cologne, and 670 people have been injured. Police expect more fatalities to be found as the water level drops.
The flooding began on Wednesday. The federal states of Rhineland-Palatinate, North Rhine-Westphalia in Germany, as well as some parts of Belgium, in which 27 people died, were most affected by it. A number of settlements were de-energized and lost communications.
There have been no such floods in Germany for almost 60 years. According to the German Meteorological Agency, in some areas a two-month rainfall fell per day. And the Prime Minister of Belgium, Alexandre De Cros, declared July 20 a national day of mourning. He said these floods could be “the most catastrophic our country has ever seen.”
While water is beginning to subside in the hardest hit areas, flooding continues in other regions of Europe, notably Bavaria and Austria, due to heavy rainfall.
In the Netherlands, thousands of people fled their homes in the province of Limburg as water burst through a dam. In Maastricht and nearby cities, the water receded and on Friday residents were able to return to their homes, informs Russian service of the BBC.
In Switzerland, the Are River, flowing through the capital city of Bern, overflowed its banks.
The German government is preparing to commit more than € 300 million ($ 354 million) in immediate aid, as well as billions of euros to repair destroyed houses, streets and bridges, Finance Minister Olaf Scholz said.
Experts say global warming is increasing the likelihood of heavy rainfall. Since the beginning of the industrial era, the world’s average temperature has already risen by about 1.2 degrees Celsius.
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