There are huge holes in the ground in Erftstadt near Cologne. Houses collapse because of the masses of water, there have already been deaths. Rescue turns out to be difficult.
Erftstadt – When houses collapsed in Erftstadt-Blessem, people died. “There are fatalities,” said a spokeswoman for the Cologne district government.
There had been massive and rapidly progressing washings of houses in the village. A number of houses have collapsed in whole or in part.
Tweet from the district government of Cologne
Aerial photographs distributed by the district government and photos by dpa photographers show landslides of enormous proportions. Houses were swept away and disappeared. Cars lay in newly created huge holes in the ground next to concrete parts of the former sewer system.
Emergency calls keep coming from the houses. At the moment, however, people could only be rescued from the water by boat, the authority had previously announced. In addition, a gas leak makes rescue work more difficult. Several nursing homes would be evacuated.
The spokeswoman for the district government could not say how many people are missing. The situation is confusing. A reconnaissance team of the disaster control is on the way in the place.
After the extremely heavy rain, the river Erft overflowed its banks and flooded parts of the urban area. There had been evacuations in several villages. “We are currently going through a crisis, the dimensions of which cannot be assessed today,” said District Administrator Frank Rock (CDU) the day before. dpa
