In the hours after the flood disaster in Germany, the extent of this only really becomes apparent. The floods of rain have subsided. Thousands of people became homeless because of the floods, many fear for their livelihood – and the country is counting its deaths. By Friday evening, a total of 108 fatalities had been confirmed in North Rhine-Westphalia and Rhineland-Palatinate. The border area between the two federal states is particularly affected. People died in flash floods, in collapsed houses, in flooded basements, from flotsam and electric shocks. Like a tsunami in the middle of the continent.
Even after a tsunami, it may take days until all the victims are found and the extent of the destruction is known. In Germany’s disaster area, many access routes have been destroyed and the telephone network has partially collapsed. The situation remains confusing. Not all victims have been found yet. Around 1000 people are still being sought. “The fear is that there will be more,” said a police spokesman in relation to possible deaths. Families and relatives do not give up hope that the missing people have found shelter somewhere and will be in touch soon.
«Pictures like from the war»
And the horror is not over yet. In Erftstadt in North Rhine-Westphalia, an entire district continues to threaten to sink into a hole in the ground. Houses washed away near a gravel pit collapsed, others were swallowed up by the huge sinkhole. And on the flooded Bundesstrasse 265 in Erftstadt, it is unclear whether everyone made it out of their cars and trucks alive. People were surprised by the masses of water and locked in vehicles.
Scenes like in an end-of-time film. The pictures from Germany, from the center of Europe, “are like from the war zone,” says Markus Ramers, district administrator of the Euskirchen district in North Rhine-Westphalia affected by the disaster. The district is one of the areas hardest hit by the flood disaster. So far, he could confirm 24 deaths, but it was increasing, Ramers told the “Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger”.
Images of flooded areas that look like a battlefield: mud, trees, rubble, car and even truck wrecks and ruins of houses where there were once villages and streets. An unpleasant smell rises from the mud. Countless animals also perished in the flood masses. Inevitably, there will soon be a smell of putrefaction over the worst parts. “There are a lot of villages that no longer look the way you know them,” said District Administrator Ramers. “These are circumstances that are otherwise known from war zones.” The situation is “psychologically very stressful”.
The fear of more rain
Many areas are without electricity and the situation remains critical. Other dams can break. The great fear, according to Ramers: that it will start raining again. Boulders and mud would clog many drainage routes.
The rain has cleared, but the search and rescue work continues on Saturday night and on the weekend. In many places the water levels are falling, but some places remain evacuated. Some settlements are still completely cut off from the outside world, and rescue workers are trying to get to them.
Malu Dreyer (60), the SPD Prime Minister of Rhineland-Palatinate, speaks of a “national catastrophe”. “The suffering is increasing so dramatically today,” said Dreyer on Friday, as more and more dead were recovered and the extent of the destruction only gradually became visible. Many have lost everything: their belongings, including family, relatives, friends. Many only have tears left.