At least 180 people died from the floods that hit several central European countries in recent days, especially Germany and Belgium. Of these, 153 died in Germany while 27 in Belgium. Authorities in both countries estimate that the figure could increase in the coming days, as they are still there dozens of missing.
By far the most affected state in Germany is Rhineland-Palatinate. On Sunday morning the local police said that at least 110 people have died in the state, while at least 670 are injured Southgerman newspaper writes that in many areas of the state there is still a lack of electricity and the telephone network. Another 43 people died in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. The number of missing people varies from hour to hour, but it seems to be several dozen.
In Belgium, however, most of the dead come from the province of Liège, a city of 200,000 inhabitants located in the French-speaking region, Wallonia. According to the latest data there are also 103 missing: The evening explains that the figure is so high because probably many people have lost their phone or have not been able to recharge it. In addition, several injured people showed up in hospitals without an identity document.
– Read also: Photos of flood damage in central Europe
Both the German and Belgian authorities have attributed the cause of the unusually heavy rains in recent days, which in turn caused the floods, to climate change. The progressive warming of the planet makes extreme weather phenomena more frequent, but it is difficult to trace a single case to changes in climate mainly due to human activities. The President of Germany, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, he has already asked the government more ambitious measures to combat climate change.
In Germany in particular, the public debate on what went wrong has already begun. Hannah Cloke, a hydrologist who helped create the European Flood Observatory (EFAS), he said a Politico that the high number of deaths is due to “a colossal failure of the system”: “I expected people to be evacuated, I didn’t think it possible that so many people could die from a flood in 2021”. Germany’s interior minister, Horst Seehofer, also said that Germany will have to “prepare much better” for such events in the future.
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