Major Flooding in Germany, Belgium and Netherlands
MISSING PERSONS
09:23 am 15th July The police in Rhineland-Palatinate has set up an information portal on the Internet and asks that videos and photos be transmitted that could provide information about dead or missing persons. https://rlp.hinweisportal.de/
TRAVEL CONNECTIONS, RESTRICTIONS, CANCELLATIONS
https://www.bahn.de/p/view/service/aktuell/index.shtml
FLOOD WARNINGS – GERMAN CIVIL PROTECTION MAP
The German Civil Protection map in force at 1300 HRS 9Lisbon time) shows the flood warning in the place.
The link here to that page has links to all these areas with more details and the local areas areas (with maps) affected.
UPDATE SATURDAY 17th JULY 2021 0800 HRS
The death toll from the heavy rains and floods that are lashing parts of Central Europe has risen to 133 in Germany, bringing the death toll in Europe to 153.
“According to updated information, 90 people lost their lives during the catastrophe” in the Rhineland-Palatinate region, one of the most affected, said today the police in Koblens, cited by AFP.
Authorities admit that there may be more deaths, as there are still dozens of people missing in these two regions, especially in a locality near Cologne, where a large landslide toppled several buildings.
This number adds to the 43 deaths recorded in North Rhine-Westphalia, another German region heavily hit by the floods, and the 20 deaths recorded in Belgium, where there are another 20 people missing.
In Belgium , the government decreed that next Tuesday will be a day of national mourning.
In addition to Belgium and Germany, deluge rains and consequent floods caused serious material damage in the Netherlands, Luxembourg and Switzerland
UPDATE 1330 HRS 16TH JULY
BELGIUM
In Belgium, the number of deaths in connection with the severe storms continues to rise. As reported by the Belga news agency, citing the governor of the Liege province, at least 23 people were killed in Wallonia. So far, only six of the 20 bodies found in the province of Liège have been identified. There are still people who have been sitting on roofs without eating or drinking for 36 hours.
According to information from the public broadcaster RTBF, 13 people were also missing in the province of Liège.2:27 pm. At least 63 dead in Rhineland-Palatinate .The flood disaster on the Ahr and Moselle in Rhineland-Palatinate killed at least 63 people. The number will probably rise, said Prime Minister Malu Dreyer. An unknown number of people are still missing. In the community of Adenau (Ahrweiler district) alone, there were around 30 residents.
“The suffering never ends,” said Dreyer during a visit to the professional fire brigade in Trier. The number of deaths continues to rise. The water is now receding everywhere, so people are now found who drowned in the disaster. “And then you could really only cry. That’s a horror.”
UPDATE 0800 HRS FRIDAY 16TH JULY 2021
Entire communities lay in ruins after swollen rivers swept away towns and villages. Mobile phone networks have collapsed in some of the affected regions, making it difficult for missing persons to search.
The total number of people who died due to the heavy flooding that, since Wednesday, has affected the western part of Germany has increased to 81, says the German broadcaster ARD. It is the largest mass loss of life in years in the country.
About 1,300 people remain missing in the Ahrweiler district, south of Cologne, the district government said on its Facebook page, according to Reuters . The mobile phone networks have collapsed in some of the flood – affected regions, increasing the difficulties for families and friends to find loved ones.
UPDATE 1700 HRS
Latest update at least 42 dead many still missing
At least six others have died in neighbouring Belgium, and the city of Liège has urged all residents to leave.
It follows record rainfall in parts of western Europe that has caused major rivers to burst their banks.
The Netherlands has also been badly hit, with flooding rivers damaging many houses in the southern province of Limburg. A number of care homes have also been evacuated.
After the severe storm in North Rhine-Westphalia, the Cologne police have now reported 20 deaths in their region. In addition to two deaths found in Cologne, 15 have been reported from Euskirchen and three from Rheinbach, the police said. It had previously become known that people were killed in other parts of the country in connection with the storm. In total, at least 24 people died in North Rhine-Westphalia.
18 people were killed in the Rhineland-Palatinate district of Ahrweiler. This increases the death toll in Germany to at least 42. Numerous people are still missing.
17:00 o’clock Steinbach dam in North Rhine-Westphalia threatens to collapse. The villages of Schweinheim, Flamersheim and Palmersheim are evacuated at the Steinbachtalsperre in North Rhine-Westphalia. The dam was classified by an expert as “very unstable”, said the district administrator of the Euskirchen district, Markus Ramers (SPD), the dpa news agency. The evacuation affected 4,500 residents. The district of Euskirchen is apparently the worst affected by the storm, with 15 fatalities so far in North Rhine-Westphalia.
Regional and long-distance traffic in North Rhine-Westphalia and Rhineland-Palatinate is still severely restricted due to the severe weather conditions. Tracks, switches and signaling technology were badly damaged in many parts of the country, said Deutsche Bahn. Train stations and signal boxes are also affected.
The weather situation also affects long-distance traffic: on the Cologne-Düsseldorf-Essen Dortmund route, there are diversions, delays and train cancellations. The Cologne-Koblenz line via Bonn Central Station is currently not accessible. The route on the right bank of the Rhine is passable via Bonn-Beuel, but there are also delays and train cancellations here.International long-distance traffic to and from Brussels is interrupted, according to Deutsche Bahn. The affected long-distance trains are canceled between Köln Hbf and Bruxelles-Midi
In Swisttal in the south of North Rhine-Westphalia, several people have been trapped because of the floods since Wednesday evening. How many people are affected is unclear, said the Rhein-Sieg district.”There are numerous reports of buildings in danger of collapsing, but no valid overall assessment yet.” In addition, there is a large-scale power failure. Communication with the rescue workers on site is difficult in the current situation. Swisttal lies between Euskirchen and Bonn.
PREVIOUS UPDATE 1240 HRS
Because of the risk of a dam breaking at the Steinbach dam in North Rhine-Westphalia, two districts of Rheinbach have been evacuated. The Rheinbach fire department announced on Thursday. “This is a precautionary measure, as it is not certain whether the dam of the Steinbachtalsperre can be held,” said the announcement.
In the Rhineland-Palatinate district of Ahrweiler, around 100 houses were destroyed as a result of the storm. Interior Minister Roger Lewentz (SPD) announced this at a press conference. About 100 people would have saved themselves on the roofs and sometimes spent the night there. The number of injuries is currently unknown. In Sinzig around 2000 people had to leave their homes. A total of four retirement homes in Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler and Sinzig would still be evacuated. According to District Administrator Jürgen Pföhler, ten schools in the Ahrweiler district were also flooded and severely damaged.
In addition to Germany, Belgium was also hit by severe storms. At least two people were killed, according to media reports. In large parts of the south and east of the country, especially in the area around Liège, floods occurred as a result of heavy rain. Around a dozen houses in Pepinster collapsed after the River Vesdre overflowed its banks.
UPDATE 1115 HRS
BERLIN (AP) — More than 20 people have died and dozens of people are missing in Germany and neighbouring Belgium after heavy flooding turned streams and streets into raging torrents, sweeping away cars and causing buildings to collapse.
Storms across parts of western Europe in recent days caused rivers and reservoirs to burst their banks, resulting in flash floods as rain-soaked soil failed to absorb any more water.
Authorities in the western German region of Euskirchen said Thursday that eight deaths had been reported there in connection with the floods. Rescue operations were hampered by the fact that phone and internet connections were down in parts of the county, which is southwest of Cologne.
Police in the western city of Koblenz said four people had died in Ahrweiler county. Up to 70 people were reported missing after several houses collapsed overnight in the village of Schuld in the Eifel, a volcanic region of rolling hills and small valleys southwest of Cologne.
The flood in Rhineland-Palatinate has now also reached the city of Trier. Floods in the river Kyll, a tributary of the Moselle, flooded the center of the Ehrrang district, as the city announced. Shortly before the flooding began, the evacuation of 1,600 people began.
As a result of the heavy rain, the drinking water supply in Eschweiler near Aachen failed. The city region of Aachen announced that a water pipe that supplies the city center had broken. The residents of Eschweiler should avoid unnecessary water consumption by showering or flushing the toilet. The hospital, which is also affected and currently has around 400 patients, will be evacuated during the day.
UPDATE 0945 hrs
According to the electricity distribution network operator Westnetz, at least 200,000 people are without electricity in North Rhine-Westphalia and Rhineland-Palatinate. For safety reasons, transformer stations would be switched off if water penetrated, the company said.
Parts of the Rhine in southern Germany are closed to shipping. In the region around Maxau and Iffezheim, shipping has been stopped, the water and shipping office announced. The lockdown is expected to last until the weekend. Further north, the Rhine is still navigable.
PREVIOUSLY POSTED 0830 HRS
Berlin, July 15, 2021 (Lusa) – At least six people have died and 50-60 are missing as a result of heavy storms and torrential rains that have hit Germany in recent hours.
Municipal authorities in Ahrweiler, in the federal state of Rhineland-Palatinate, in the southwest of the country, confirmed the death of six people.
Two firefighters working in the rescue effort are among those who died according to the same source.
At least six buildings in Ahrweiler collapsed due to the rains, which further affected the stability of another 20, according to local authorities.
The entire district of Ahrweiler was affected by the storm, the police spokesperson said. “Several places have been cut off from the outside world because of the floods. About 50 people climbed to the roofs of houses and had to be rescued. In addition, 50 to 60 people would be missing in the particularly affected area alone, the spokesman said. Six houses there had collapsed during the night. Several other houses are in danger of collapsing. The situation is confusing”.
In the Eifel district of Bitburg-Prüm, the situation is still extremely dangerous due to high water, according to a district spokesperson. In Messerich in the Eifel, two helpers from the Technical Relief Organisation were trapped by the floods.
On Wednesday evening, the authorities in the district of Ahrweiler had reported extremely heavy rain. The Koblenz fire brigade, together with the Lahnstein technical relief organisation and the Mainz fire brigade, filled hundreds of sandbags. These were brought to the district of Ahrweiler by six trucks.
People also had to be rescued from the roofs of their caravans at the Stahlhütte campsite in Dorsel (Ahrweiler district) and other sites along the Ahr.
The neighbouring state of North Rhine-Westphalia is also affected by floods.
Transport has been severely hit by the weather situation, with trains and other transport cancelled or disrupted.
District Administrator Jürgen Pföhler (CDU) called on people to stay at home if possible and “if necessary to go to higher floors”. “The situation is very serious,” he said. There is a mortal danger.
The Rhineland-Palatinate Prime Minister Malu Dreyer (SPD) reacted to the floods. “The storm hit our country hard,” she wrote on Twitter. They fear with everyone who is in danger. Her thanks go to all helpers, fire brigades and emergency services who fought tirelessly with great commitment against the masses of water.
In the evening, the authorities in Ahrweiler reported extreme heavy rain. The Koblenz fire brigade, together with the Lahnstein technical aid organization and the Mainz fire brigade, helped to fill 800 sandbags per hour. These were brought to the Ahrweiler district in six trucks. Flash floods and floods are to be expected, it said. At a campsite in Dorsel and other facilities along the Ahr, people had to be rescued from the roofs of their camper vans.
MISSING PERSONS
09:23 am 15th July The police in Rhineland-Palatinate has set up an information portal on the Internet and asks that videos and photos be transmitted that could provide information about dead or missing persons. https://rlp.hinweisportal.de/
TRAVEL CONNECTIONS, RESTRICTIONS, CANCELLATIONS
https://www.bahn.de/p/view/service/aktuell/index.shtml
Local and German national news sources.