The Eifel between Rhineland-Palatinate and North Rhine-Westphalia is badly hit by the flood disaster.
Pictures from the region document the extent of the destruction caused by the flood.
Munich / Eifel - There were quite a few dead and injured.
People lost all their belongings.
Cars were washed away like branches.
The terrible flooding in Germany causes dismay and great sympathy.
The storm hit the Eifel particularly hard, and other areas in North Rhine-Westphalia also had to struggle with the flood disaster.
Floods in North Rhine-Westphalia and Rhineland-Palatinate: Image of the destruction after storms in the Eifel
A video from Stolberg near Aachen showed a daring rescue operation by the fire brigade in the middle of the flood.
In the neighboring Eifel, the Euskirchen district in particular has suffered several deaths and severe damage from the floods.
As of Thursday afternoon, July 15, there were at least 15 fatalities in the district 35 kilometers southeast of the metropolis of Cologne.
At the same time, at least 18 deaths from the storm were recorded in the Ahrweiler district, where the Ahr, a tributary of the Rhine, runs.
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Image of the devastation: Rescue workers of the fire brigade in debt (Eifel).
© Bernd Lauter / AFP
A picture of the devastation emerged after the flood, for example, in the little village of Schuld (Rhineland-Palatinate) with 660 inhabitants, where roads and railroad tracks were simply flooded away or were left completely destroyed.
The police, fire brigade and the armed forces had to rescue residents from rooftops by helicopter.
At least six buildings simply collapsed as if they were house of cards.
The number of storm fatalities rose almost hourly in the Eifel, Federal Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU), NRW Prime Minister and CDU Chancellor candidate Armin Laschet and the Rhineland-Palatinate state chief Malu Dreyer (SPD) expressed their deep condolences to the victims and relatives as well as the rescue workers their thanks.
Floods in North Rhine-Westphalia and Rhineland-Palatinate: Euskirchen, Schuld and Ahrweiler particularly affected
The rescue measures lasted all Thursday in many places in the Eifel.
At the same time, the THW, fire brigades and the Federal Armed Forces set about clearing important access roads and infrastructure with heavy equipment.
The thousands of helpers were presented with a terrible picture of the destruction -
documented in the video at the beginning of this article
.
(pm)
List of rubric lists: © Bernd Lauter / AFP
