Death Toll Exceeds 150 in Europe Floods 

By Staff, Agencies

The death toll from catastrophic floods in western Germany and Belgium has risen to more than 150, as emergency services continued their search for hundreds still missing.

The 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 the hour of need, our country stands together,” Steinmeier said on Friday afternoon. “It’s important that we show solidarity for those from whom the flood has taken everything.”

Authorities in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate said on Saturday morning that 93 people had died there, including at least 12 residents of an assisted living facility for people with disabilities, while neighboring North Rhine-Westphalia put the death toll at 43.

Officials warned the figures could rise further. About 1,300 people in the Ahrweiler district of Rhineland-Palatinate remain unaccounted for, although efforts to contact them were being hindered by damage to phone networks.

Experts said the European Flood Awareness System [EFAS] issued an extreme flood warning earlier this week and questioned why the toll was so high. Hannah Cloke, a hydrologist, told Politico the disaster was “a monumental failure of the system”.

Experts said such disasters were likely to happen more often due to climate change. “Some parts of western Europe … received up to two months of rainfall in the space of two days,” World Meteorological Organization spokesperson Clare Nullis said.

Belgian Interior Minister, Annelies Verlinden, said the country’s death toll had risen to 20, with another 20 still missing. Most of the dead were found around Liège, a city of 200,000 people, despite an order for residents of central districts and areas bordering the Meuse River to evacuate.