Around one hundred and eight-nine people died, and hundreds of the inhabitants are still missing after disastrous flooding that hit large swaths of Western Europe. Moreover, several of them cannot return to their homes, and several people are still left without access to drinking water and power.
Record rainfall caused the flooding in the region that hit some parts of Western Germany before it moved to the Netherlands and Belgium. However, the authorities evacuated many areas across the southern Netherlands after the rose of the river Mass to levels not seen in over a hundred years on Saturday.
๐จDeadly Flooding ๐จAt least 118 dead after historic flooding in Western Europe. Yesterday massive amounts of water flooded the streets People being rescued from their homes. Many refusing to leave wanting to protect their homes and possessions #Liege #Belgium
โ Sharibearpaws๐ถ๐พ๐ฑResists๐๐๐๐ท๐ถ๐ธ๐๐๐ ๐ (@Sharibearpaws1) July 16, 2021
In the city of Venlo, more than ten thousand people head to evacuate their homes. On Saturday, the continuous rising water levels forced the military and volunteers to race against the clock to make preparations for the expected flooding. Floods produced sandbags and put up flood defenses. Whereas engineers focused on establishing the drains after one such bank broke in the South Limburg province on Friday and caused sweeping flooding in the surrounding regions.
At least 158 People Died in Germany
The Venlo regional security agency said that the preparation compensated and the watercourses and flood defenses held instantly, and the experts expected no major flooding. But, in the meantime, the actual scale of destruction in Germany brought by the floods revealed as the water lessened over the weekend, leaving behind devastation, chaos, and mud.
Whole towns, roads, and train lines swept away, and around one hundred fifty-eight people died in the worst natural disaster in a century. According to a statement from the Koblenz police, undoubtedly, most deaths reported in the western state of Rhine-Palatinate, where one hundred and ten people lost their lives.
Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor, said that one of the worst floods hit towns, and the devastation was strange. Pope Francis expressed his condolences to the regions that hit by the disaster. He prayed that might the Lord welcome the departed souls and comfort their loved ones; may He sustain the efforts of everybody who are helping those who suffered serious damage and illness.
At Angelus, Pope Francis expressed his “closeness to the populations of Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands affected by catastrophic floods”, where at least 170 people have died and hundreds more remain missing; adding “May the Lord welcome the dead and comfort their families” pic.twitter.com/OMmZ2DGUiu
โ Catholic Sat (@CatholicSat) July 18, 2021
The national Crisis Center of Belgium said on Sunday that the situation was improving slowly all over the country and that the parts hit by the floods are out of looming danger. Further, it said that teams are searching for victims continuously and that the biggest concern at the time was the deficiency of drinking water in the worst-affected areas. According to the Center, at least thirty-one people died in the country.
Deadly Floods Overwhelm Western Europe
Three westernmost states of Germany and Wallonia state in Belgium are the worst affected by the flooding, with Luxembourg and Netherlands also hit by extreme rainfall. In North Rhine-Westphalia, Cologne recorded one hundred and fifty-four millimeters (six inches) of rainfall in the twenty-four hours to Thursday morning, which almost double its monthly rain average for July of eighty-seven millimeters. According to the European Severe Weather Database, 207 millimeters of rain recorded in the Ahrweiler in just nine hours.

Source: Web
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