While she said it was too soon to blame the floods and preceding heat wave on rising global temperatures, Nullis added: “Climate change is already increasing the frequency of extreme events. What made it worse is that the soils were already saturated by previous rainfall,” World Meteorological Organization spokesperson Clare Nullis said. “Some parts of Western Europe.received up to two months of rainfall in the space of two days. “Only if we decisively take up the fight against climate change will we be able to limit the extreme weather conditions we are now experiencing,” he said.Įxperts say such disasters could become more common due to climate change. Steinmeier called for greater efforts to combat global warming. We are experiencing it up close and painfully,” she told the Funke media group. She accused Laschet and Merkel’s center-right Union bloc of hindering efforts to achieve greater greenhouse gas reductions in Germany, Europe’s biggest economy and a major emitter of planet-warming gases. Malu Dreyer, the governor of Rhineland-Palatinate state, said the disaster showed the need to speed up efforts to curb global warming. The 60-year-old's handling of the flood disaster is widely seen as a test for his ambitions to succeed German Chancellor Angela Merkel after the country's national election on Sept. The governor of Germany's North Rhine-Westphalia state, Armin Laschet, called an emergency Cabinet meeting Friday. Thousands of people remained homeless in Germany after their houses were destroyed or deemed at-risk by authorities, including several villages around the Steinbach reservoir that experts say could collapse under the weight of the floods. Most of the drowning victims were found around Liege, where the rain hit hardest.įlash floods this week followed days of heavy rainfall which turned streams and streets into raging torrents that swept away cars and caused houses to collapse across the region. In a provisional tally, the death toll in Belgium rose to 12 and five people were missing, local authorities and media reported early Friday. “One has to assume that under the circumstances some people didn't manage to escape," he said.Īuthorities said late Thursday that about 1,300 people in Germany were listed as missing, but they cautioned that the high number could be due to duplicated reports and difficulties reaching people because of disrupted roads and phone service. Speaking to German broadcaster n-tv, Rock said that authorities had no precise number yet for how many had died. “We know of 15 people who still need to be rescued.” “We managed to get 50 people out of their houses last night,” county administrator Frank Rock said.
Aerial photos showed what appeared to be a massive sinkhole. Regional authorities said several people had died after their houses collapsed when the ground beneath them sank suddenly. Rescuers rushed Friday to help people trapped in their homes in the town of Erftstadt, southwest of Cologne. “It’s important that we show solidarity for those from whom the flood has taken everything.”
“In the hour of need, our country stands together,” Steinmeier said in a statement Friday afternoon. German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier said he was “stunned” by the devastation caused by the flooding and pledged support to the families of those killed and to cities and towns facing significant damage. In neighboring North Rhine-Westphalia state officials put the death toll at 43, but warned that the figure could increase. BERLIN (AP) - At least 110 people have died in devastating floods across parts of western Germany and Belgium, officials said Friday, as search and rescue operations continued for hundreds more still unaccounted for or in danger.Īuthorities in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate said 60 people had died there, including 12 residents of an assisted living facility for people with disabilities in the town of Sinzig who were surprised by a sudden rush of water from the nearby river Ahr.
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