After the storm in North Rhine-Westphalia and Rhineland-Palatinate, the search for missing people continues. There are doubts about the number 1300.
Trier / Düsseldorf – The storm in North Rhine-Westphalia and Rhineland-Palatinate has left suffering and destruction. Even when the weather has calmed down, the water levels rise in many places, and other houses collapse under the weight of the masses of water. It is not yet possible to predict how many people actually died as a result of the low “Bernd”. Rescue workers feverishly search for missing people under the rubble and in the flooded areas.
It is unclear how many people are missing. From the point of view of the police, just under 100 people are missing in Rhineland-Palatinate, as the Rhineland-Palatinate Interior Minister Roger Lewentz (SPD) said on Deutschlandfunk. However, he does not make information about a total of 1,300 missing persons his own.
Storms in North Rhine-Westphalia and Rhineland-Palatinate: The number of missing persons is unclear
The Ahrweiler district had spoken of 1,300 missing people in the district on Thursday (July 15, 2021). A spokeswoman explained this by saying that the cellular network was partially paralyzed. Therefore, there is no cell phone reception and many may simply not be available. “We hope that clears up,” said the spokeswoman.
The Rhineland-Palatinate Prime Minister Malu Dreyer (SPD) called the situation in the flood areas “horror”. The water is now receding everywhere, so many missing people are found who drowned in the disaster. “And then you could really only cry. It’s a horror. This is all very, very bad when existences are affected. When houses are broken, when streets look like we have seen – but that people die in this catastrophe is really terrible, ”said Dreyer.
She also confirms that there are currently “very different numbers” regarding the number of missing persons. “We can’t really verify them at the moment either, because of course we really hope and pray that many of them are simply people who, due to the permanent disruption of mobile communications, the inability to reach people, that this is simply caused by it.”
Erftstadt: dead and missing after house collapse
People are also missing in Erftstadt in North Rhine-Westphalia. There were also deaths on site after several houses had collapsed. The spokeswoman for the district government has not yet been able to say how many people are missing. The situation is confusing. (ktho with agencies)
List of rubric lists: © Marius Becker / dpa
