After two days of heavy rain in Germany 45 deaths have been confirmed: an unprecedented catastrophe
Two days of uninterrupted rain and the balance in Germany It is an unprecedented catastrophe: there are at least forty-five confirmed victims according to a dramatic yet provisional bulletin, since dozens of people are currently missing.
The swelling and flooding of many small and medium-sized rivers in the western states of North Rhine-Westphalia and Rhineland-Palatinate released enormous masses of destructive water. The lifeless bodies of drowned people came out from different places, the floods claimed victims in the basements of houses, in the streets, among rescuers.
But the force of the water and mud also swept away dozens and dozens of houses. Some took refuge on the roofs of houses or in trees. The bad weather did not only hit Germany: due to the floods, 5 victims were also reported in Belgium, and floods also occurred in Luxembourg and the Netherlands.
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For meteorologists, the weather conditions, which had already improved in the morning, should remain stable in the next few hours, but the Rhine is now under observation, hit by an unprecedented assault by its tributaries. The images of the landscape and the German towns affected are difficult to translate into words. Strips of land completely devastated. Buildings and shops destroyed. The cars on the road swept away by the current are the least of the scenario in a natural disaster of this magnitude.
The hundreds of people brought to safety on a boat in Kordel, a small village located along a tributary of the Moselle, are the bright side of a day that saw at least 18 deaths in the center of Bad Neunahr-Ahrweiler and 20 in Euskirchen, near Cologne. Angela Merkel, busy in Washington on her last state visit to the US for a bilateral meeting with Joe Biden, suspended her mission to speak from the American capital and personally express her condolences for the victims.
Merkel's comment
“It's a tragedy,” the Chancellor said without playing down the issue. “These are hours in which talking about heavy rain and flooding describes the situation insufficiently. It is truly a catastrophe”, He insisted Merkel. “I am shocked by the news that reaches me from places submerged by water, where people in great distress are saved or are saved.
"Every effort will be made to find the missing," he added, promising among other things the aid needed for reconstruction, in a context of incalculable damage. Messages of solidarity and offers of help have also arrived in Germany from other nations. "We have never experienced a catastrophe like this," commented the president of the Palatinate Malu Dreyer, "what is happening is truly disastrous."
Westphalia's state governor, Armin Laschet, suspended his campaign as the CDU's chancellor candidate and visited the places hardest hit by the emergency, such as Altena and Hagen, where he called for "climate measures and policies to be more dynamic, at national, European and global levels."
Many politicians interrupt their holidays
Many politicians, such as Vice Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) and the Green Party's candidate for Chancellor Annalena Baerbock, cut their holidays short. Meanwhile, in the streets of western Germany, thousands of firefighters, police officers, army soldiers, and units of the Technische Hilfswerk mobilized to help the affected populations. The Bundeswehr deployed tanks and dozens of helicopters were used to fly over the disaster areas.
There is no shortage of controversy, even in the heat of the moment, in several directions. This time, local and regional public television stations have come under fire – as reported by Bild – for not having given timely news and warnings about what was happening yesterday evening. And in the debate on climate change and government inaction, the Sueddeustche Zetiung commented that what is happening is shocking, yes, “but not surprising”.
Article published on 15 July 2021 - 21:35
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