Emergency workers have been out in force to assess damaged buildings, clear debris and restore gas, electricity and telephone services. A total of 117 people are now confirmed to have died in Rhineland-Palatinate state, a police spokesman told AFP, with 47 victims in neighbouring North Rhine-Westphalia and one in Bavaria. Experts say that because a warmer atmosphere holds more water, climate change increases the risk and intensity of flooding from extreme rainfall. Heavy rainfall has also battered southern Germany, as well as Belgium, Switzerland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Austria in recent days. The high death toll has also brought scrutiny to Germany’s weather alert system and whether people in the risk zones were notified early enough.

Source: The Local July 19, 2021 08:48 UTC