* Photos: Anadolu Agency (AA)
Heavy rainfall caused more than 100 deaths and mass destrcution in Western Germany and the wider Benelux region on Wednesday night (July 14). The situation has been classified as a military disaster alert.
After the downpours, 106 people lost their lives while dozens of citizens are still missing as of 8.30 p.m. local time in Turkey. On 9.45 p.m., the US-based New York Times newspaper has reported that the death toll has passed 125 people, most of the deceased are reportedly in Germany.
Wide areas of land have been devastated and heavy streams have destroyed and flushed away whole houses while hundreds of cellars have been flooded. The situation remains unclear.
Focal regions of the catastrophe are the federal states of Rhineland-Palatinate with 63 counted deaths and Nordrhein-Westfalen with 43 so far.
In Erfstadt in the South of Cologne, more than a day later, people are still trapped in buildings or on the roofs of and trees where they climbed on to searche refuge. Many people could only be evacuated by boats.
In most of these regions, communication networks were also down and massive progressing gas leaks could not be stopped yet.
According to energy supplier E.ON, around 165,000 people in western Germany were without power on Thursday.
Many parts of Benelux region affected by floods
Further, the heavy downpours have affected Belgium, where the death rate counts 23 until now. Also, in several regions in the Netherlands, around 10,000 people had to be evacuated from their homes.
Altough the heavy rain subsided, the situation remains tense. More isolated downpours are being expected but the storm potential decreases significantly as the highest points were already reached.
According to Germany's Chansellor Angela Merkel, the focus is now on rescue operations. More than 15,000 firefighters and disaster relief workers completed more than 22,000 missions country-wide yesterday. Further, police are cordoning off houses to protect them from further looting.
As floods in this region are no rare exeption, Germany has a highly developed warning system. But the dimesnions of this flood exceeded all preventive measures - due to the unpredictability of these floods, the disaster is difficult to manage. Environmental activists call for increased climate protection now, both internationally and in the region.
This has been the worst flood that Europe has experienced in more than a century. The people in the region have expereinced floods before. But this natural catastrophe traumatized the residents of Western Germany immensly. People all over the country mourn losses of friends and family members. Countries like France and Belgium, which have also been affected, assure their solidarity and support.
Turkey has expressed condolences
Also the Foreign Ministry of Turkey expressed its condolences towards Germany in a brief press release, stating the following:
"We are deeply saddened that more than 40 people have lost their lives and more than 70 people have been missing as a result of the flood disaster in the Western Germany.
"We extend our sincere condolences to the relatives of those who lost their lives as well as to the people and Government of the Federal Republic of Germany and wish the missing people to be rescued safely as soon as possible and a speed recovery to the injured."
As reported by the state-run Anadolu Agency (AA), Turkey on Friday expressed "deep sadness" over the deaths this week in a number of Western European countries due to severe flooding.
"Deeply saddened to learn that many people have lost their lives and many more are missing following severe floods in western Europe, particularly in Germany," Turkey's Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu has said.
He has tweeted, "Our thoughts and deepest sympathies are with the victims and their families," Minister Çavuşoğlu has added, mentioning the names of his counterparts in Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands – Heiko Maas, Sophie Wilmes, and Sigrid Kaag, respectively.
NOTE: "Floods are the second most destructive type of natural disaster in Turkey, after earthquakes". In the Black sea region, disasters caused through floods have been on the rise since the mid-90s. Recently, six people have lost their lives in floods and landslides in Rize province, while the search efforts are ongoing for two missing people.
(BB/SD)