Merkel is silent about the flood areas: – surreal and ghostly

Chancellor Szold visited on Sunday. No one in the village has yet been confirmed dead or injured, but luck is far from everyone.

Should is located in the Orweller area, which has paid a heavy price in recent days. The death toll in the area has now reached 112 with many still missing and authorities fear the number will continue to rise.

In neighboring Rhine-Westphalia, flooding has claimed 46 lives since Wednesday. The death toll in Belgium reached 31, an increase of four since Saturday. It will likely be revised upwards in the next few days, with 163 people still missing in the country.

In total, more than 180 people lost their lives in Central Europe.

Struggling to find the words

Heavy rainfall makes the idyllic village of Shold now reminiscent of a war zone. The visit left a clear imprint on Merkel, who was almost silent due to the ravages of the flood.

– It’s shocking. I can almost say that the German language hardly contains words for the devastation that has occurred, says the German chancellor.

She promised that the authorities will do everything in their power to rebuild the affected areas, as well as provide support to the victims.

“This gives a picture of what I must say is a surreal and ghostly situation,” Merkel continues.

The government says it will adopt an emergency crisis package worth more than 300 million euros for immediate emergency aid in the affected areas. In addition, a larger plan for long-term reconstruction was planned. Here is the price of several billion euros.

The flood led, to a greater extent than before, to climate change and global warming which became a theme in the German election campaign.

Had to apologize

Germans go to the polls on September 26, in an election that marks the end of 16 years with Merkel in power.

Experts agree that climate change is making extreme weather more common. Prime Ministerial candidates waiting behind the scenes in Germany have spoken to step up the fight against climate change and step up preparations.

Among them is Merkel’s party colleague, Armin Laschet, who has done well so far in the polls. Laschet is currently the head of government in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia.

But Laschet was in the negative spotlight after Saturday’s incident, when he was photographed smiling and laughing during a visit to Irftstadt, where a flood caused a landslide.

– Laschet laughs while the country cries, Bild newspaper writes. The CDU politician was later forced to come out and apologize for the incident.

moving east

Severe precipitation also decreased in Switzerland, Luxembourg and the Netherlands.

As water levels drop in the states of Rhineland-Palatinate and North Rhine-Westphalia, there are new concerns about the situation in other parts of the country that have not yet been severely affected by floods.

This applies, among other things, to parts of Bavaria, where torrential rains flooded cellars and caused rivers to overflow there as well.

The cities of Berchtesgaden and Bischofsuisen, located in southeastern Bavaria near the border with Austria, were particularly affected. The water comes from the mountains and from the flooded Aji River.

Authorities in the region say one death has been reported in Berchtesgadener Land.

Also in Austria, heavy rains lead to flooding, and emergency services in the Salzburg and Tirol regions are working hard.

– Heavy rains and storms unfortunately caused serious casualties in several places in Austria, Prime Minister Sebastian Kurz wrote on Twitter.