LATEST: European flooding death toll exceeds 170
The flood that was dubbed the “flood of death“, has now claimed over 170 lives. 143 people have reportedly died in Germany and 27 in Belgium due to flooding.
The flooding’s toll on Belgium has resulted in the Prime Minister, Alexander De Croo, declaring July 20 a national day of mourning. The PM says the floods might be the most catastrophic his country has ever seen.
Despite rescue workers trying to save lives, local media has reported that people are travelling to see the devastation. Thus, Mainz police have asked people to stop their disaster tourism. The Netherlands has issued similar warnings.
However, it is not just the public who is failing to take the situation seriously. A German politician is under fire for laughing about the situation while he toured an affected area.
Commentators and the press did not appreciate his actions. One newspaper, the Bild, ran the line “Laschet laughs while the country cries” on their website. Armin later expressed regret over his behaviour.
Angela Merkel is set to visit affected areas today where she will presumably not make light of the situation.
Further rescue operations are still underway, but as of yesterday, German officials say the missing have dwindled in number.
German states Rhine-Westphalia, Rhineland-Palatinate, and Saarland are said to be affected the worst by the rainfall and flooding. Though the risk of flooding has decreased, concerns still linger over the Steinbachtal dam in North Rhine-Westphalia.
In another part of Germany, emergency workers continue to search abandoned cars along the B265 road. However, fire service spokesperson Elmar Mettke says no bodies have been recovered.
Elmar says they will continue to search abandoned cars as it seems it will still take a while until they can safely say they are done searching.
One resident of Schuld in the Rhineland-Palatinate district of Ahrweiler compared the devastation wrought by the flooding to a “war zone”.
SOURCE: BBC
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