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The death toll from floods in Germany and Belgium has risen to 157, according to Reuters

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© Reuters. Members of the Bundeswehr force, surrounded by partially submerged cars, walk through the floodwaters in Erftstadt-Blessem (Germany, July 17, 2021) after heavy rains. REUTERS / Thilo Schmuelgen

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By David Sahl and Philip Blenkinsop

WASSENBURG, Germany / BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Rescue workers searched parts of the flood-ravaged areas of Germany and Belgium on Saturday after survivors of rivers and accidental floods collapsed and killed at least 157 lives this week.

Some 133 people have been killed in floods in western Germany, the country’s worst natural disaster in more than half a century. According to police, there were about 90 in the Ahrweiler district of southern Cologne. Hundreds of people are still missing.

Authorities said about 700 people were evacuated late Friday after a dam exploded in the nearby town of Wassenberg.

“The water level has stabilized since last night, it can be said that the situation is stable,” said Wassenberg Mayor Marcel Maurer. “It’s early to shed light on everything but we’re cautiously optimistic.”

In Belgium, the death toll rose to 24, according to the national crisis center, which is coordinating the rescue effort.

“Unfortunately, we have to assume that this number will increase in the coming hours and days,” the center said in a statement. About 20 people are still missing.

The floods that have hit in recent days, especially in German-speaking Rhineland-Palatinate and North Rhine-Westphalia and eastern Belgium, have cut off entire communities from power and communications.

In the southern provinces of Luxemburg and Namur in Belgium, authorities rushed to supply drinking water to homes without clean supplies.

Water levels fell slowly in some of Belgium’s most serious areas, although the crisis center said the situation could worsen in the evening on the Demer River closer to Brussels, threatening to destroy about 10 houses.

The Belgian railway network operator Infrabel announced plans to repair the lines, some of which would only be back in service by the end of August.

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Emergency services in the Netherlands also remained on high alert as rivers flooded threatening cities and towns across the southern province of Limburg.

Ten thousand residents of the region have been evacuated in the past two days as soldiers, firefighters and volunteers worked frantically on Friday night to enforce the dikes and prevent flooding.

The Dutch have so far escaped the devastation of their neighbors, and there were no casualties on Saturday morning.

Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen were scheduled to visit Pepinster on Saturday evening.

German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and North Rhine-Westphalia Prime Minister Armin Laschet were also due to visit Erftstadt, one of the worst-hit countries.

Laschet is a candidate for the CDU party in the September general election. Flood destruction could intensify the debate over climate change ahead of the vote.

Scientists have long said that climate change will lead to more rain showers. It will take at least a few weeks to investigate its role in these ongoing storms, scientists said on Friday.




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