Germany Mourns, 81 People Dead And 1000 More Missing In Floods

A woman looks at flood-brought debris next to the Ahr river/BETWEEN PHOTOS/REUTERS/Wolfgang Rattay/AWW/sa (REUTERS/WOLFGANG RATTAY)

JAKARTA - Germany mourns, the death toll from severe floods in West Germany increases. Based on the latest data, or until this news is revealed the death toll is 81 people.

The death toll in this natural disaster is the highest in years. About 1.300 people in the Ahrweiler district south of Cologne are missing, local authorities said on Facebook.

Cell phone networks in some of the flood-hit areas were cut off, leaving family and friends unable to track their relatives.

Entire communities were devastated after overflowing rivers swept away towns and villages in the states of North Rhine-Westphalia and Rhineland-Palatinate.

On Friday morning as reported by Reuters from Antara, Friday, July 16, houses in Erftstadt near Cologne were destroyed. Rescue teams are struggling to help desperate residents return home despite warnings, the Cologne district government said.

According to him, many residents are still in the house and some are still missing. The gas leak incident made it more difficult for the rescue team when trying to reach the displaced people.

A dam near the Belgian border, Rurtalsperre, was flooded last night. While the other dam, Steinbachtalsperre, is unstable.

The North Rhine-Westfalia Parliament will hold an emergency meeting on Friday. German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer told Spigel magazine that the federal government plans to provide financial assistance to the affected areas as soon as possible. He added that the plan must be submitted to the cabinet for approval on Wednesday.