Police Authorities in Germany say at least 20 people have died and many more are missing following severe floods in western Germany.
Malu Dreyer, chief of the Rhineland-Palatinate state, described the flooding as a catastrophe which follows record rainfall in parts of Western Europe that has caused major rivers to burst their banks
The worst of the flooding has been in the states of Rhineland-Palatinate and North Rhine-Westphalia, where buildings and cars have been washed away.
Two people have also died in neighbouring Belgium, while the Netherlands has also been badly hit.
Chancellor Angela Merkel, who is in the US ahead of a meeting with President Joe Biden, said she was “shocked by the disaster”.
Up to 70 people are believed to be missing in the Ahrweiler district of Rhineland-Palatinate, after the Ahr river, which flows into the Rhine, burst its banks.
Police helicopters and hundreds of soldiers have been deployed to some areas to help stranded residents. Earlier, police said dozens of people were waiting on rooftops to be rescued.
Schools have been closed around the west of the country, while transport links have been severely disrupted.
According to German broadcaster SWR, about 25 houses are in danger of collapsing in the district of Schuld bei Adenau in the mountainous Eifel region, where a state of emergency has been declared,.
It said some houses had been completely cut-off and could no longer be reached by boat.
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