Posted on 07/16/21
| News Source: i24
Around 1,300 people missing in one German district after heavy rains, flooding swept through area
Authorities in Germany's Rhineland-Palatinate said Friday that 50 people have died in devastating floods in the western state, bringing the national death toll to at least 81, with dozens more missing.
"The number of dead has gone up to 50" from 28 in the badly hit region, a spokesman for the interior ministry of Rhineland-Palatinate, Timo Haungs, told AFP.
Heavy rains and floods lashing western Europe have also killed nine in Belgium, and many more people are missing as rising waters caused several houses to collapse on Thursday.
In Germany, which is experiencing one of the worst weather disasters since World War II, desperate residents sought refuge on the roofs of their homes as rescue helicopters circled above.