At Least 120 Dead In Europe After worst Flooding

At least 120 people have died and hundreds more in western Europe are unaccounted for after some of the worst flooding in decades.

Record rainfall caused rivers to burst their banks, devastating the region.

In Germany, where the death toll now stands at over 100, Chancellor Angela Merkel called for a determined battle against climate change. The states of Rhineland-Palatinate and North Rhine-Westphalia were the worst-hit.

Belgian media is reporting 22 deaths there. The Netherlands, Luxembourg and Switzerland are also affected.

In the western German district of Ahrweiler, up to 1,300 people are unaccounted for, the authorities say. A spokeswoman for the local government said mobile networks had been put out of action, making it impossible to contact many people.

The village of Schuld (population 700) was almost entirely destroyed. In the town of Erfstadt-Blessem, near Cologne, floodwaters caused a row of houses to collapse.

Local authorities said they were receiving emergency calls from people trapped by floodwater but rescue was in many cases not possible.

Some 15,000 police, soldiers and emergency service workers have been deployed in Germany to help with the search and rescue, while helicopters picked stranded residents from roof tops and tanks cleared roads of fallen trees and debris.

Speaking during a meeting with US President Joe Biden in Washington DC, Merkel expressed her “deepest condolences” and pledged government support for the rescue efforts.