The flood disaster did not ease on Friday either, houses collapsed in Erftstadt. More than 1,300 people are missing, the number of deaths rises to 80. The news ticker.
- The flood disaster is getting worse and the death toll continues to rise.
- Houses collapsed in Erftstadt on Friday morning, and many people are currently still locked in their homes.
- This news ticker is continuously updated.
Erftstadt – The flood disaster will not ease in many places even on Friday, numerous districts are still fighting the flood. In Erftstadt in North Rhine-Westphalia, the water is currently rolling through the streets, the first houses collapsed on Friday morning. In Rhineland-Palatinate, the death toll rises to 50.
Floods in Germany: Houses collapse in Erftstadt – emergency services receive numerous emergency calls
In Erftstadt-Blessem, a number of houses collapsed in whole or in part, the Cologne district government announced on Friday morning. The cause is massive and rapidly progressing underwashing of the houses. Emergency calls keep coming from the houses. As the WDR reports, many people should not have left their homes before. Others would have returned to their homes early despite warnings. At the moment, people could only be rescued from the water by boat. To do this make it difficult
Gas leak does the rescue work. Several nursing homes would be evacuated.
After the severe flood disaster, 1,300 people are missing in the Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler district. The district administration announced on Thursday evening. A spokeswoman said the cellular network was paralyzed – and therefore there was no cell phone reception and many people could not be reached. “We hope that clears up,” she said of the high number. At the same time, the district announced that there were more fatalities. The spokeswoman did not want to name any numbers.
Floods in Germany: the number of deaths continues to rise – around 80 people die from the floods
The fire brigade was able to rescue three seriously injured people from the Wurm river in the Heinsberg district on Thursday evening, who threatened to drown there. The North Rhine-Westphalia Ministry of the Interior spoke of at least 30 dead on Thursday evening. The district administrator of Euskirchen, Markus Ramers (SPD), said he expected more dead who would be discovered when the water had drained. In Rhineland-Palatinate, the number of deaths rose to 50 on Friday morning. This means that around 80 people have fallen victim to the floods so far.
According to the Federal Office for Population and Disaster Protection (BBK) in Bonn, 23 cities and districts in North Rhine-Westphalia are affected by floods. Chancellor Angela Merkel promised help to those affected. In Washington she spoke of a “tragedy”. The Bundeswehr has now sent around 900 soldiers to the disaster areas in North Rhine-Westphalia and Rhineland-Palatinate to provide support.
Floods in Germany: Will the Steinbach Dam hold up? Expert on site on Friday
Even on Friday, the all-clear cannot be spoken of in many places. In the severely affected district of Euskirchen in North Rhine-Westphalia, an expert is to take another look at the Steinbach dam on Friday. The water level had dropped on Thursday evening due to pumping out, but the dam, the dam of which has deep furrows, was classified by an expert as “very unstable” the day before. Therefore, several villages were evacuated for security reasons. Around 4,500 residents were affected.
Rescue and clean-up work continues across the country. In the towns of Schleiden and Bad Münstereifel, the emergency services encountered houses that were in danger of collapsing or that had already been destroyed. In Weilerswist, firefighters were trapped by the masses of water. According to the district, they were able to free themselves.
Floods in Germany: Up to 180 liters of rain per square meter
According to the German Weather Service, up to 180 liters of rain per square meter had fallen in the south of North Rhine-Westphalia. Many rivers and streams in the Eifel, Bergisches Land, Rhineland and Sauerland overflowed their banks on Wednesday and Thursday night. More than 15,000 firefighters and disaster relief workers had completed over 22,000 missions nationwide by Thursday.
According to the energy supplier Eon, around 165,000 people in western Germany were without electricity due to the storm on Thursday afternoon. The Eifel, the Rhein-Sieg district on the left bank of the Rhine, the Rheinisch-Bergisch district and parts of the Bergisches Land are particularly affected, the company said in Essen.
