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Flood in Western Europe kills at least 42: What you need to know
Record rainfall in the recent days in Western Europe has led to one of the worst floods that the region has seen. At least 42 people have been confirmed dead and many are still missing. The worst affected regions are Rhineland-Palatinate and North Rhine-Westphalia of Germany.
Belgium has also been affected by the floods, where at least 6 people have been reportedly died. The city of Liège has started to evacuate its residents.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel has expressed her “shock” at this disaster. She is currently in the US to meet with US President Joe Biden. Evacuation efforts are in progress in the region. Police have deployed helicopters to help people evacuate in the affected region. Many people are still waiting on their rooftops to receive help.
Authorities have closed the schools around the region and the transport in the region has been severely disrupted, further adding hindrance to the evacuation efforts.
Many residents have expressed their shock at the situation. Many say that they have not seen anything like that in their lifetimes. Several houses in the region have collapsed with their residents having nowhere to go.
The premier of North Rhine-Westphalia blamed climate change for the situation and said, "We will be faced with such events over and over, and that means we need to speed up climate protection measures... because climate change isn't confined to one state”.