The death toll rises in flood-affected regions of Germany and Belgium. Dozens were also missing in the German city of Szold after several buildings collapsed.
And German police said, Thursday evening, that at least 58 people died as a result of the storm, according to Bild newspaper.
In Belgium, at least seven people died. This brings the total number of deaths due to severe weather to 65 in the two countries.
channels SWR It was reported Thursday morning that six houses collapsed in the town of Schuld in the Eifel region towards the border with Belgium in the Rhineland-Palatinate state.
25 homes are at risk of collapsing and five people are stuck in a house surrounded by water.
Earlier, it was reported that up to 70 people were missing in the city of about 700 people.
Police earlier said the situation was puzzling and, according to Bild, between 50 and 70 people were still missing in the states of Rhineland-Palatinate and North Rhine-Westphalia. The situation is described as extremely tragic.
At least 200,000 in Germany will be without electricity because of the storm.
The Acting Mayor of Liege, Belgium, Christine Devereine, urges residents of Liege who live along the River Maas to leave their homes.
Germany’s Rhineland-Palatinate state has declared a state of emergency, and State Minister Malo Dreyer says the storm has hit them hard. The damage will take several weeks after severe weather has fixed.
We’ve never seen a disaster like this before. It is really overwhelming. Entire areas were inundated, she said at a news conference, and homes had simply sailed away.
The Nimes River in the Rhineland-Palatinate, which is usually two meters wide, is now 200 meters wide.
– In large parts of the region, there is no drinking water supply, no electricity and no gas, says the district official in Rhineland-Palatinate, Jürgen Pöller according to SWR.
See more photos of floods in Germany:
North Rhine-Westphalia was also hit hard by the severe storm. emergency services in Solingen It saved about 130 people from the floods, a fire service spokesperson says.
A crisis management team in the Rhine-Erft region of North Rhine-Westphalia has declared a disaster after continued heavy rain, according to Focus.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel thanks emergency services for their efforts, she wrote woman.
– I was shocked by the disaster. Merkel said my thoughts go to the relatives.
Six dead in Belgium
The storm is also affecting the Czech Republic and eastern Belgium, where the railway has been suspended. At least six people have died in Belgium due to torrential rains in the province of Liege. Report it RTBF public channel.
to me border echo One of the people in Eupen died. It has been officially confirmed that a 22-year-old man jumped into a strong stream in a swimsuit. It was rescue workers who found him dead.
On Wednesday, two firefighters died in rescue work in Bonn, Germany, writes Watchman. It is said that someone died of cardiac arrest.
It is said that the other fell into the water and drowned after saving a man from the water Southgerman newspaper.
More than 450 people have been evacuated from hospitals
A power outage in Leverkusen, Germany, has led to the evacuation of the Leverkusen clinic. 468 people were affected by the evacuation, the German news site wrote كتب focus.
The reason for the error is that the Dhünn River has crossed its banks. All operations and appointments at the hospital have been cancelled.
The smoke of the emergency force in the hospital night through Thursday.
See more photos of floods in Belgium, the Netherlands and Switzerland:
Fear of looting
At Hückeswagen in the Bergisches Land, about 1,500 residents were forced to evacuate.
“A lot has to be done by boat because the roads are no longer usable,” a police spokesman told Germany. focus.
In Misrish, two aid workers trapped by the flood on their way to a rescue operation now have to wait for the roof of their car, according to the district.
In the district of Ahrweiler, they declared a disaster, and in the town of Hagen, which has a population of about 180,000, they declared a state of emergency after the flooding of the Volme River, he writes. Watchman.
In the town of Stolberg, police alerted after eyewitnesses reported seeing people trying to enter flooded shops. When the police moved to a supermarket and pharmacy, many people fled the scene. Bild writes that it is unclear if anything was stolen.
In Verviers, Belgium, a curfew was imposed from Thursday evening at 21 until Friday morning at 06 — specifically to avoid looting of shops, they wrote Standard.
weather changes
The German Weather Service DWD said Thursday morning that more heavy rain can be expected in the southwestern parts of the country throughout the day, and that scattered rain showers will continue on Friday.
German government spokesman, Steffen Seibert, described the situation in the hardest-hit areas as appalling.
Although not every flood has anything to do with climate change, researchers tell us that this will happen more frequently and with greater intensity as a result of climate change, he says.
Warnings of heavy rain and flooding were also issued for the southeastern Netherlands and Switzerland.
Destruction: Several homes along the Ahr River in western Germany were badly damaged Thursday morning. Photo: Michael Probst/Associated Press
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