Floods: more than 180 dead in Europe, Angela Merkel will go to the bedside of the victims

Published on : 07/18/2021 – 08:08

The death toll from the devastating floods climbed to 156 in Germany, police said Sunday (July 18), bringing a total of at least 183 deaths in the inclement weather in western Europe.

In the only German regional state of Rhineland-Palatinate, local police reported 110 dead in a statement, against 98 in the previous report.

“It is feared that other victims will be added,” said police in their statement, also speaking of at least 670 people injured in this area alone.

In addition, one person perished during floods in southern Germany, in Bavaria on the Austrian border, where torrential rains also fell on Saturday.

A “disaster plan” has been decreed in the German district of Berchtesgaden and several hundred firefighters are deployed.

In neighboring Belgium, where a day of national mourning is declared on Tuesday, 27 people have died to date.

Austria also affected, the European Union is mobilizing

In Austria, firefighters are on high alert in the Salzburg and Tyrol regions, while the old town of Hallein is under water.

“Heavy rains and storms are unfortunately causing severe damage in several places in Austria,” Prime Minister Sebastian Kurz tweeted.

Finally, further east, on the border between Germany and the Czech Republic, rivers also rose in the Germanic region of Saxony on Saturday evening, causing damage.

It is in this still tense context that Chancellor Angela Merkel has planned to meet the inhabitants of Schuld in Rhineland-Palatinate, located in the west of the country, a village described as a “martyr”: almost everything has been destroyed there by midweek floods.

As rescuers continue to search for dozens of people still missing in the country and in Belgium, she should pledge state aid for reconstruction. A government aid plan of probably several billion euros is in preparation.

The European Union has also assured its support in the face of these bad weather, which also affected the Netherlands, Luxembourg and Switzerland.

“We Europeans are with you at this difficult time with all our hearts,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said during a visit to Belgium on Saturday.

Tens of thousands of Germans are affected either by the destruction of their homes, cuts in electricity, gas or telephone lines. Not to mention the gutted roads, sunken bridges and cities under the rubble.

Angela Merkel deplores “a real disaster”

“This is a real disaster, I am devastated,” Angela Merkel said this week from the United States where she was visiting when torrential rains in the middle of the week suddenly caused flooding described by witnesses as “tidal waves. -tidal “or” tsunami “. It is the biggest natural disaster in the country’s recent history.

The floods in Germany took a political turn just over two months before the general elections, after which Angela Merkel will step down. Each candidate competes for proposals to strengthen the fight against global warming, the cause for many experts of flooding.

But the favorite to succeed the Chancellor, the conservative Armin Laschet, on Saturday committed a misstep detrimental to his image, being filmed laughing during a tribute by the Head of State to the victims of the floods. “Laschet laughs while the country suffers,” writes Bild, Germany’s most widely read newspaper.

The images went viral, with national outrage forcing him to apologize for his “inappropriate” behavior. The controversy has grown even more important as Mr. Laschet is also the leader of one of the two regions most affected by the floods, North Rhine-Westphalia.

In all the affected localities, firefighters, civil protection, municipal officials and soldiers have begun the colossal work of clearing and cleaning up the piles of muddy debris which often obstruct the streets. More than 22,000 rescuers are hard at work.

“It’s a horror scenario,” comments Michael Kossytorz in the devastated town of Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler, noting the damage. Unusual scene, military tanks were even deployed in some places to aid in the efforts.

With AFP