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Death toll from devastating floods in Europe tops 100 - New York Post

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The death toll from devastating floods across parts of Western Europe soared to at least 108 on Friday — most in western Germany, where emergency responders were frantically searching for about 1,300 people, officials said.

Authorities said efforts to contact the missing people could be hampered by disrupted roads and phone connections.

An ambulance of the German forces drives through the Blessem district of Erftstadt, Germany.
A German ambulance drives through the Blessem district of Erftstadt, Germany.
AP

In the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate, 50 people died, including at least nine residents of an assisted-living facility for the disabled, while in neighboring North Rhine-Westphalia state, 30 people lost their lives, authorities said.

The death toll in Belgium, meanwhile, jumped to 15 with five people still missing and more than 21,000 people left without power in one region, Agence France-Presse reported.

A police car stands in the city center of Kircheim, Germany.
A police car stands in the city center of Kircheim, Germany.
AP

Luxembourg and the Netherlands also were battered by heavy rains, inundating many areas and forcing thousands to be evacuated in the Dutch city of Maastricht.

But Germany was the hardest hit, with residents caught completely off guard by the deluge, called the “flood of death” by the country’s top-selling daily Bild.

“I fear that we will only see the full extent of the disaster in the coming days,” Chancellor Angela Merkel said Thursday from Washington, where she met with President Biden.

Residents clean up debris in the street caused by the floods following heavy rainfalls over the previous days in Ensival, Belgium.
Residents clean up debris in the street caused by the floods following heavy rainfall over the previous days in Ensival, Belgium.
BELGA/AFP via Getty Images

“My empathy and my heart go out to all of those who in this catastrophe lost their loved ones, or who are still worrying about the fate of people still missing,” Merkel said.

Streets and houses were submerged by water in some areas of Germany, while vehicles were left overturned after floodwaters passed. Some districts were completely cut off from the outside world.

A flooded street in the Belgian city of Verviers.
A flooded street in the Belgian city of Verviers.
BELGA/AFP via Getty Images

In Ahrweiler, several homes collapsed completely, drawing comparisons to the aftermath of a tsunami. At least 24 people were confirmed dead in Euskirchen, one of the worst-hit towns just to the north.

A bridge damaged by trunks following heavy rains and flooding in Echtershausen, near Bitburg, western Germany.
A bridge damaged by tree trunks following heavy rains and flooding in Echtershausen, near Bitburg, western Germany.AFP via Getty Images

The number of dead in North Rhine-Westphalia has reached 43, authorities said Friday.

In the devastated Ahrweiler district of Rhineland-Palatinate, some 1,300 people remained unaccounted for, although local authorities told Bild the high number was likely due to damaged phone networks.

Regional Interior Minister Roger Lewentz said up to 60 people were believed to be missing, “and when you haven’t heard from people for such a long time … you have to fear the worst.”

“The number of victims will likely keep rising in the coming days,” Lewentz added.

Several people also were killed and went missing after a landslide in Erftstadt-Blessem in North Rhine-Westphalia, officials said.

“Houses were largely swept away by the water and some collapsed,” the local authority in Cologne said in a tweet, while a spokeswoman for the local government told AFP there were confirmed deaths.

Residents use rubber rafts to evacuate after the Meuse River broke its banks during heavy flooding in Liege, Belgium.
Residents use rubber rafts to evacuate after the Meuse River broke its banks during heavy flooding in Liege, Belgium.
AP

North Rhine-Westphalia Gov. Armin Laschet — whose handling of the disaster is widely seen as a test for his ambitions to succeed Merkel as chancellor in the Sept. 26 election — has called an emergency cabinet meeting Friday.

Malu Dreyer, the governor of neighboring Rhineland-Palatinate state, said the disaster showed the need to speed up efforts to curb global warming.

Debris of collapsed houses is pictures in the Blessem district of Erftstadt, Germany.
Debris of collapsed houses is pictured in the Blessem district of Erftstadt, Germany.
AP

“We’ve experienced droughts, heavy rain and flooding events several years in a row, including in our state,” she told the Funke media group. “Climate change isn’t abstract anymore. We are experiencing it up close and painfully.”

She accused Laschet and Merkel’s center-right Union bloc of hindering efforts to achieve greater greenhouse gas reductions in Germany.

With Post wires

Destruction after heavy rains caused flooding in Theux, Belgium.
Destruction after heavy rains caused flooding in Theux, Belgium.
EPA

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