As of the morning of July 19, the number of disaster deaths had risen to 188 in Western Europe, including Germany, Belgium, and Switzerland. Among them, at least 157 people died in germany, the hardest hit area, and the death toll in Belgium climbed to 31 on the 18th.
On the fifth day of the flood, on July 18, local time, German Chancellor Angela Merkel visited the hardest-hit areas, and she used "surreal, extremely terrifying, and shocking" to describe the extent of the damage caused by the flood, and said that it was a damage that could not be described in German words. She promised the government would quickly provide maximum financial assistance and would accelerate the pace of the fight against climate change.
The New York Times reported that this is Merkel's first appearance since the flood broke out on the 14th. Some German media said that under the double test of floods and epidemics, Merkel, who will leave office in September, is undergoing the last and biggest test of her ruling career. Reuters and Bloomberg believe that the flood is likely to shake the German election in September this year.
Screenshot of the New York Times report
"Extremely terrifying... Poor words in German."
It was germany's worst natural disaster in nearly 60 years. German police said that since the 14th, the flood has claimed at least 157 lives, and in the Rhineland-Palatinate (Leifa state alone), 110 people have died and 670 people have been injured. Police said more bodies would have to wait for the floodwaters to recede before they could be found.
On July 18, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who had just finished her visit to the United States, inspected the disaster situation in the hardest hit area, the village of Schuld in The State of Leifa. Originally a quaint village on the banks of the Aar River, the village of Shuld has now destroyed many of its buildings after being ravaged by floods. A spokesman for the German Meteorological Bureau even commented, "Saying that it is light to say that it has not been encountered in a hundred years, this may be a rare flood in a thousand years."
After visiting the village of Schuld on the same day, Merkel talked with survivors and emergency workers. She said the scale of the floods experienced in Germany was "beyond the imagination of reality, extremely frightening, shocking ... I can hardly find the right German word to describe the extent of the devastation of the disaster."
Merkel inspects the disaster area (Oriental IC map)
Merkel promised that the government would immediately organize aid to help rebuild the infrastructure. She said the Cabinet would approve a short- and medium-term financial aid package on Wednesday. "Thankfully, Germany is a country that can solve this problem financially ... Ability to cope with this situation.".
German Finance Minister Schultz also said in an interview with German media on the same day that they will propose an emergency aid plan of 300 million euros (about 2.2 billion yuan) at the cabinet meeting on Wednesday. Based on previous experience, a large-scale reconstruction plan for the disaster area, which costs billions of euros, will be proposed. He also said the first payment would arrive in Lefa and North Rhine-Westphalia this month. "Reconstruction assistance may take some more time. But it will happen within the year of this year. ”
In addition, Merkel also said on the same day that the government will take faster and better action to deal with climate change. She said investments in the fight against climate change, while expensive, would be more costly not to do so, "a flood is not an example of climate change, but if we look at the events of losses in recent years, decades, then they are just more frequent than before".
(Oriental IC Photo)
As rescue teams continue searching, German authorities say they expect the number of victims to rise as hundreds remain unaccounted for.
The BBC reported that as the rainfall center gradually shifted to Austria and southern Germany, the berchtesgaden county of Upper Bavaria, the seat of the famous tourist attraction Königssee, in the upper Bavaria administrative region of southern Germany, declared a "state of disaster" on the same day.
Meanwhile, the Steinbatal Dam in western Germany, southwest of Bohr, is still in danger of collapsing after the evacuation of downstream residents.
Reuters said the death toll in Belgium climbed to 31 on July 18, and 163 are still unaccounted for. The country is scheduled for national mourning on Tuesday, and Belgian Prime Minister Alexander de Croix believes the link between the floods and climate change is clear.
So far, the Netherlands has only reported property damage caused by flooding, with no deaths or disappearances. Dutch emergency services health officials said the situation in the southern part of Limburg has stabilized, with tens of thousands of people evacuated in recent days, but the northern region remains on high alert.
Many places in Germany were hit by torrential rains and floods Source: The surging image platform
Foreign media: The flood may shake the German election
The New York Times reported that this is Merkel's first appearance since the flood 14th, and she was visiting Washington last week. Although Merkel was absent at the beginning of the floods, she was not criticized by the public. First, because the timing of the floods was too sudden; second, the visit to the United States was considered an important step in restoring relations between Germany and the United States; and third, because of Merkel's current "lame duck" status.
Deutsche Zeitung noted that Merkel's task is rather heavy, despite being only a few months away from leaving office. In addition to the epidemic, there are now problems such as floods and economic recovery. Merkel also seems to have no sign of saying goodbye, still working hard, and Merkel's "last stick" is not easy to hand over.
German general elections will be held in September, and all three major candidates visited the disaster areas last week. Reuters believes the floods could shake up the German election in September. Bloomberg said the devastating flood disaster in Germany changed the course of the country's election and could redefine the political line to succeed Merkel.
Amin Laschet was photographed laughing in an interview with Steinmeier Image source: German media
On July 17, when German President Steinmeier inspected the hard-hit town of Erftstadt in North Rhine-Westphalia to express sympathy to the media, the governor of the state behind him, the chairman of the CDU, who was regarded as a popular candidate for Merkel's successor, Ramchet, was chatting with people around him and laughing. The move sparked criticism from the outside world. Bild, Germany's largest newspaper by circulation, criticized: "The whole country is crying, and Raschet is laughing." ”
It has also sparked criticism from Rashet's rivals. Lars Klingbeil, secretary general of the Social Democrats, rebuked Laschet for his uncultured and appalling move, saying that "human character is revealed in times of crisis." The Social Democrats' prime ministerial candidate is Finance Minister Scholz, 63, who ranked third in the polls, behind the Green Party's candidate, Annalena Baerbock, 40.
Merkel declined to comment on the matter, stressing only that as a national leader, she would cooperate with her in disaster relief.
While German politicians say they don't want to politicize the disaster, The New York Times highlighted the possibility that the natural disaster would change the course of the German election. The floods have been influencing political activity in Germany, and before the 2002 German election, chancellor sought-after Schroeder was on the front lines of the floods wearing rubber boots, while his opponent Stoiber happened to be on vacation, and Schroeder's performance during the floods was credited with helping him win that year's election.
Global climate change caused this flood?
In the aftermath of the floods, many European leaders blamed climate change. Some experts say that global warming has made heavy rains more likely, and global temperatures have risen by about 1.2 degrees Celsius since the beginning of the industrial age. Some experts said that this kind of extreme weather, which has not been encountered in a hundred years, will become more and more frequent in the future, and the destruction will become more and more destructive.
German media reports pointed out that as early as the 19th century, meteorologists have found that after the air temperature rises, its humidity will increase accordingly. For every degree Celsius increase in air temperature, its moisture content increases by 7%. A warming global climate will also accelerate the evaporation of water from the surface and oceans, which in turn will trigger strong rainfall and storms.
Johannes Quaas, a meteorologist at the University of Leipzig, says Germany, as an industrial country, is warming twice as fast as the global level. This means that Germany is now 20 percent more likely to experience heavy weather than it was in the 19th century and 10 percent more likely to occur than it was 40 years ago.
Screenshot of German media report
But is this simply a "natural disaster"? Some US media pointed out that the flood is not unforeseen. Now, with hundreds of deaths and hundreds missing, doubts about the flood are intensifying.
Dr Linda Speight, a hydrometeorologist at the University of Reading in the UK, accused, "This incident should not have killed so many people." She believes that the lack of early warning and poor communication are the reasons for the heavy loss of life caused by the flood.
Michael Stoffels, a 32-year-old resident near the Ar River, said earlier that he had not received an early warning from the government, but on the 14th a neighbor called him to remind him that the water level was rising rapidly.
The New York Times reported that Germany's flood warning system leaves local officials with discretion to decide what to do, citing the fact that they know best about the local topography and the people or property on the river's overflow route. Some areas seem to have sounded early warnings, but others have come too late. Residents who failed to move quickly were killed, including 12 disabled people at a care centre.
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