Death toll from European floods passes 115 as receding waters reveal scope of devastation
BERLIN — As deadly floodwaters began to recede Friday across Germany and Belgium, the full extent of the destruction was slowly revealed: muddy washouts where homes used to stand, cars and debris carried on streets that became white-water torrents, and officials still adding to a death toll that surpassed 115 and was expected to climb higher.
“Whole places are scarred by the disaster,” German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier said at a news conference after the worst flooding in decades to hit the region. “Many people have lost what they have built all their lives.”
Photographs and drone footage showed scenes of total — and sudden — devastation in the heart of Europe: a regional train trapped in a flooded station, vehicles abandoned on waterlogged roadways, survivors floating down a city street on rubber boats.
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The storm — a major low-pressure system that stretched from Germany to France — brought a deluge Thursday that quickly swelled rivers, collapsed bridges and roads, and left many people scrambling to rooftops or onto fallen trees. At one point, German officials said up to 1,300 people remained unaccounted for. But the staggering figure could be due to the fact that mobile phone networks were crippled.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/death-toll-from-european-floods-passes-115-as-receding-waters-reveal-scope-of-devastation/ar-AAMe4Eq
