Merkel promises swift aid for areas hit by 'terrifying' floods
Chancellor visits one of worst-hit places in Germany as death toll in Europe rises to 184 after record rainfall
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BERCHTESGADEN/BISCHOFSWIE-SEN (Germany) • German Chancellor Angela Merkel described the flooding that has devastated parts of Europe as "terrifying" after the death toll across the region rose to 184 as a district of Bavaria was battered by the extreme weather.
Dr Merkel promised swift financial aid after visiting one of the areas worst affected by the record rainfall and floods that have killed at least 157 in Germany alone in recent days, in the country's worst natural disaster in almost six decades.
"It is terrifying," she told residents of the small town of Adenau in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate. "The German language can barely describe the devastation that's taken place."
The devastation continued yesterday when a district of Bavaria, southern Germany, was hit by flash floods that killed at least one person.
Roads were turned into rivers, some vehicles were swept away and swathes of land buried under thick mud in Berchtesgadener Land. Hundreds of rescue workers were searching for survivors in the district, which borders Austria.
"We were not prepared for this," said Berchtesgadener Land district administrator Bernhard Kern, adding that the situation had deteriorated "drastically" late last Saturday, leaving little time for emergency services to act.
About 110 people have been killed in the worst-hit Ahrweiler district south of Cologne. More bodies are expected to be found there as the flood waters recede, police say.
The European floods, which began last Wednesday, have mainly hit the German states of Rhineland-Palatinate, North Rhine-Westphalia as well as parts of Belgium. Entire communities have been cut off, without power or communications.
In North Rhine-Westphalia, at least 46 people have died, while the death toll in Belgium stood at 27.
The German government will be readying more than €300 million (S$480 million) in immediate relief and billions of euros to fix collapsed houses, streets and bridges, Finance Minister Olaf Scholz told weekly newspaper Bild am Sonntag.
Economy Minister Peter Altmaier told the paper there could also be a €10,000 short-term payment for businesses affected by the impact of the floods as well as the Covid-19 pandemic.
Scientists, who have long said that climate change would lead to heavier downpours, said it would still take several weeks to determine its role in these relentless downpours.
Dr Merkel also said yesterday that Europe's largest economy must get better and faster in tackling the impact of climate change after record floods caused the country's worst natural disaster in nearly six decades.
"The sum of all events that we are witnessing in Germany and the forces with which they occur all suggest ... that it has something to do with climate change," she told residents of Adenau in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate.
"We have to hurry, we have to get faster in the fight against climate change."
REUTERS
