In western regions, streets and houses were submerged by water in some areas, while cars were left overturned on soaked streets after flood waters passed. The number of casualties in North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) has reached 43, bringing the national toll to at least 93, authorities said Friday. Germany’s toll was likely to rise with large numbers of people still missing in NRW and Rhineland-Palatinate, the hardest-hit states, following the region’s worst floods in living memory. Around 1,000 soldiers have been deployed to help with rescue operations and rubble-clearing in affected towns and villages. Winfied Köller, a resident of the city of Hagen in NRW, told public broadcaster WDR he had “never experienced anything like this in my life” after being rescued from his car by firefighters.

Source: The Local July 16, 2021 06:56 UTC