DM Monitoring
BERLIN: At least 33 people have died and dozens are missing, according to regional officials, after heavy rains triggered flash floods in parts of Germany, damaging homes and disrupting transport.
The deaths reported on Thursday were in the states of North Rhine Westphalia and Rhineland-Palatinate where around the wine-growing hub of Ahrweiler alone 18 people died due to the extreme weather conditions.
In the small town of Schuld in Rhineland-Palatinate, four houses were swept away by rising floodwaters, while two others were partly washed away. Some 50 to 70 people are missing, the authorities said. “There are people dead, there are people missing, there are many who are still in danger,” the governor of Rhineland-Palatinate state, Malu Dreyer, told the regional parliament. “We have never seen such a disaster.”
The full extent of the damage in the region was still unclear after many villages were cut off by floodwater and landslides that made roads impassable. Video footage from Bad Neuenahr, about 60km northwest of Koblenz, showed cars and trucks strewn across streets and one sport-utility vehicle perched on a fence, a road blocked by wreckage and fallen trees as floodwaters receded.
