SCHULD – The number of people who lost their lives in the heavy floods in the western part of Germany increased to at least 81 on Friday, according to German broadcaster ARD.
Around 1,300 people were missing in the district of Ahrweiler. Mobile phone networks have collapsed in some of the flood-stricken regions.
Entire communities lay in ruins after swollen rivers swept through towns and villages in the states of North Rhine-Westphalia and Rhineland-Palatinate.
On Friday morning, houses collapsed in Erftstadt, and rescue crews were struggling to help residents who had returned to their houses despite the warnings, the Cologne district government said on Facebook.
It said many people were still in the houses and several were missing. A gas leak was further hampering rescue workers as they tried to reach stranded people by boat.(Reuters)
