Jeenyuhs Posted July 15, 2021 Posted July 15, 2021 (edited) BBC News Mundo Most of the deaths have been registered in western Germany, 42, and there are also dozens of missing, according to the local police reported this Thursday. The states of Rhineland-Palatinate and North Rhine-Westphalia, bordering Belgium, have been the hardest hit, with buildings and cars being washed away by torrential downpours. On the Belgian side, at least six other people have died. The authorities of Liège, in the east of the country, have urged all its residents to evacuate the city. These incidents are a consequence of the record levels of precipitation that Western Europe has experienced in recent days, which have caused some of the main rivers in the region to overflow. Most of the deaths have been registered in western Germany, 42, and there are also dozens of missing, according to the local police reported this Thursday. The states of Rhineland-Palatinate and North Rhine-Westphalia, bordering Belgium, have been the hardest hit, with buildings and cars being washed away by torrential downpours. On the Belgian side, at least six other people have died. The authorities of Liège, in the east of the country, have urged all its residents to evacuate the city. These incidents are a consequence of the record levels of precipitation that Western Europe has experienced in recent days, which have caused some of the main rivers in the region to overflow. The Netherlands has also been severely affected. In the southern province of Limburg, the waters have ruined a large number of houses and several homes for the elderly have had to be evacuated. The ruler of the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate, Malu Dreyer, has described the flood as "catastrophic". "There are dead, missing and many people still in danger," he said. "All of our emergency services are in permanent action, risking their own lives." For her part, Chancellor Angela Merkel, who is in the United States for a meeting with President Joe Biden, said she was "shocked by the disaster." At least 19 people were killed in the Ahrweiler district of Rhineland-Palatinate after the Ahr river, which flows into the Rhine, overflowed. Police helicopters and hundreds of soldiers have been deployed to some areas to help stranded residents. According to the police, dozens of people waited on the roofs of their houses while they were rescued. "I had never seen anything like it" Schools throughout the west of the country have been closed and transportation services have been severely disrupted. Some 25 houses are in danger of collapsing in the Schuld bei Adenau district in the mountainous Eifel region, where a state of emergency has been declared, according to German broadcaster SWR. According to the same source, some houses had become completely isolated and could no longer be reached by boat. Likewise, eight deaths have been reported in the Euskirchen district of North Rhine-Westphalia, while at least four people died in the Eifel region when their houses were washed away by water. Some locals told the AFP news agency that they were shocked by the disaster. The mayor of Liege, Belgium's third largest conglomeration after Brussels and Antwerp, has urged all its inhabitants to evacuate the city. In the same vein, he asked that those who cannot leave it move to the upper floors of their buildings. The river Meuse, which runs through the city, is expected to rise another 150cm, even though it is already about to overflow. Local officials are also concerned that a dam bridge in the area will collapse and ask locals to help each other. "The crisis situation is exceptional and solidarity must prevail," the Liège Mayor's Office said in a statement. Meanwhile, in the Belgian town of Pepinster, 10 houses collapsed after the river Vesdre overflowed. Edited July 15, 2021 by Yeezuz
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