“This level of flooding can no longer be combated”

The masses of water literally eat their way through the streets, whole places sink into brown floods. There are incredible pictures and scenes that take place on Thursday in the Eifel and parts of North Rhine-Westphalia. What most people in Germany previously only knew from a great distance is suddenly very close.

The situation is particularly bad in Altena in the Märkisches Kreis. The people there are locked in by the masses of water. The city is cut off from the outside world. “It is really very depressing here,” said district spokesman Alexander Bange of the German Press Agency. “The water is still flowing knee-high through the streets, cars are standing sideways, litter and undergrowth are piling up on the sides.”

There is no telling when the water will go back, said Bange. “The only good thing is that it stopped raining last night.” Local residents tried desperately to get the water out of their houses with brooms or other devices. “I believe that it will take many days – if not weeks – for things to return to normal here.”

Two people die in the filled basement

The number of deaths in the flood disaster in North Rhine-Westphalia is staggering. In Cologne, two people were discovered dead in their cellars that were full of water. The fire brigade found the dead woman (72) and the dead man (54) during operations on Thursday night. “In both cases, the police have started investigations into the exact cause of death,” said the investigators.

In Rheinbach near Bonn, too, a dead woman was discovered early in the morning on a street. A connection with the storm is likely, said the Bonn police.

In total, at least 42 people died in connection with the severe storms in Rhineland-Palatinate and North Rhine-Westphalia.

Rescuers were also killed in action. A 46-year-old firefighter drowned in Altena in North Rhine-Westphalia on Wednesday after rescuing a man. A 52-year-old firefighter collapsed during a storm in Werdohl in the Sauerland region and died despite attempts at resuscitation. In addition, two helpers were injured.

The German Fire Brigade Band (DFV) mourns the two firefighters. “Our thoughts are with their families and the members of the fire brigades,” said DFV President Karl-Heinz Banse on Wednesday. In view of the deaths, the association called on fire brigades across Germany to equip their emergency vehicles with mourning ribbons for two weeks.

People in Altena trapped by masses of water

In Rhineland-Palatinate, the small Eifel town of Schuld was hit particularly hard. The village with around 700 inhabitants – near the state border with North Rhine-Westphalia – lies in a loop on the Ahr, which is usually a small river. Now the Ahr has turned into a raging body of water.

A young man stands in front of the ruins of his house, which was torn away by the floods. A dramatic rescue operation was carried out because dozens of people escaped to safety on the roofs. Many more houses are now considered to be in danger of collapsing.

A police spokesman said that around 70 people had been missing. “One or the other person” has now reported to relatives, so that this number is lower. How many people were still missing on Thursday afternoon, the police spokesman could not say.

82-year-old in Solingen dies in a flooded cellar

In Solingen in North Rhine-Westphalia, an 82-year-old man fell in the flooded basement of his family house and got his head under water on Wednesday evening. A little later, the pensioner died in a hospital, as a police spokeswoman in Wuppertal said on Thursday.

The wife had discovered her husband in the accident in a shaft in the basement and alerted an ambulance. Although the man was initially resuscitated, he did not survive the accident.

Others were saved from the floods. On Thursday afternoon, rescue workers managed to save around 130 people in the city of Solingen from acute distress from the flood. A fire department spokesman said on Thursday. “We got people out using turntable ladders, boats and buoys. Everything was improvised. ”In two situations, the emergency services had to get themselves to safety on fire trucks.

According to a city spokesman, the emergency services speak of a “flood of the century” after the heavy rains in Solingen. “Our hometown has been hit by a major disaster,” said Mayor Tim Kurzbach (SPD). “This level of flooding can no longer be combated. The water is stronger. (Tsp, dpa, AFP)