Flood of death kills at least 100 in Gemany, Belgium

In Western Europe, at least 100 people are dead and about 1,500 are missing after devastating floods swept across a swath on Thursday, engulfing whole villages in raging muddy brown waters, overturning cars and forcing residents to evacuate. According to media reports at 90 people were died in Germany itself. Some houses were washed away as a tributary of the Rhine burst its banks. Divers were deployed to retrieve bodies from flooded houses. Speaking to German radio on Friday, Roger Lewentz, the interior minister for Rhineland-Palatinate, said families had gone to scoop water out of basements in initial flooding, only to be trapped by surging waters.

These photos from @BezRegKoeln show the devastation caused by the torrential rain and #floods in #Germany, which reportedly killed dozens of people
Our thoughts are with everyone affected
Fotos: Rhein-Erft municipality pic.twitter.com/MVLonIGVnb

— World Meteorological Organization (@WMO) July 16, 2021

Reports further says that at least 14 people were killed in Belgium. Severe flooding also impacted the Netherlands, Luxembourg and Switzerland, and warnings were issued in more than a dozen regions of France. More than 1,000 rescue operations had taken place in the district since Thursday morning,

Scenes from the #Netherlands
Many parts of Western Europe, including #Belgium, #Germany, #Luxembourg and #Switzerland have been hit by torrential rain, with widespread flood alerts https://t.co/qglMRTCDeY

— World Meteorological Organization (@WMO) July 15, 2021

Further flooding was feared in western Germany on Friday as a breach at another dam loomed. The death toll is the highest of any natural catastrophe in Germany since a deadly North Sea flood in 1962 that killed around 340 people. The crash of a high-speed ICE train in 1998 killed 101 people. German Chancellor Angela Merkel mourn those who lost their lives in this disaster. She said. “We don’t know the number yet. But there’ll be many".