Thoughts are turning to the lengthy and costly job of rebuilding communities devastated in minutes.
BERLIN — Rescue workers labored to deal with damage laid bare by receding water Saturday as the death toll from disastrous flooding in Western Europe rose above 160 and thoughts turned to the lengthy job of rebuilding communities devastated in minutes. The death toll in western Germany’s Rhineland-Palatinate state, home to the badly hit Ahrweiler county, rose to 98. Another 43 people were confirmed dead in neighboring North Rhine-Westphalia state. Belgium’s national crisis center said the country’s confirmed death toll rose to 27. Days of heavy rain turned normally minor rivers and streets into raging torrents last week and caused the disastrous flooding that swept away cars, engulfed homes and trapped residents. Immediately after the floods hit on Wednesday and Thursday, German authorities listed large numbers of people as missing – something apparently caused in large part by confusion, multiple reporting and communications difficulties in the affected areas, some of which lacked electricity and telephone service. By Saturday, authorities still feared finding more people dead, but said numbers unaccounted for had dropped constantly, without offering specific figures. In Belgium,103 people were listed as missing Saturday, but the crisis center said lost or uncharged cellphones and people taken to hospitals without identification who hadn’t had an opportunity to contact relatives were believed to be factors in the tally. Meanwhile, the receding floodwaters eased access across much of the affected regions and revealed the extent of the damage. “A lot of people have lost everything they spent their lives building up – their possessions, their home, the roof over their heads,” German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier said after meeting rescue workers and others in the town of Erftstadt. “It may only be possible to clear up in weeks how much damage needs to be compensated,” he said.
