“
We're going to hold on!
This confidence of Christine Defraigne, the first alderman of Liège, says a lot about the state of devastation of the fourth city of Belgium and the southern and eastern parts of the country.
Almost everywhere around the Meuse and its tributaries emerge the same scenes of desolation and distress after two days of torrential rains.
Read also:
Bad weather in Europe: the call for help from Belgium has been heard
In Liège, where the river has reached historic levels, it is a man who, Thursday, saw, from afar, the house of his companion's grandmother collapsing and who will learn a little later of the death of this one. Near Pepinster, also in the Walloon region, these are the inhabitants who spend fourteen hours on a roof without seeing the slightest help arriving.
In Verviers, where many buildings are now threatening to collapse, it is the Vesdre, a sub-tributary of the Meuse, which has emerged from its bed, carrying everything in its path, leaving the center covered with mud and in a mess indescribable.
In the province of Limburg, not far from the Netherlands, the governor has ordered the evacuation of several flood zones.
And, on Friday, part of the dike of the Juliana canal, which separates Belgium from the Netherlands, broke.
Federal Prime Minister Alexander De Croo summed up the situation thus: “
What were supposed to be beautiful summer days suddenly becomes dark and gloomy times for many people.
"
National mourning
The Belgian government deplored, Friday afternoon, twenty dead and nineteen missing. The macabre count could increase in the coming hours and days. The political leaders fear, in fact, that new victims will be found in the rubble of houses, when the recession will allow emergency services to access them in complete safety. "
We are still awaiting the final assessment, but it could be that these floods are the most catastrophic that our country has ever known"
, warned Alexander De Croo.
"It is after that we will have to manage. These are days of mourning and sadness that lie ahead ”
, assures, for her part, Christine Defraigne, speaking of
“ a tragedy ”
.
Tuesday July 20 has been declared a day of national mourning and the festivities planned for the next day as part of the Belgian national holiday will be limited.
Read also:
Floods: Wallonia is living a hell underwater
The material damage linked to these floods is colossal.
The south and east of the country were, moreover, at idle on Friday, due to cut roads, closed stations and interrupted train lines.
More than 41,000 Belgian households were still without electricity.
And some municipalities invited their inhabitants not to drink tap water, which was unfit for consumption.
It will take weeks, maybe months, to rehabilitate the disaster areas.
For now, Belgium can count on the support of several European countries, including France, which have responded to the country's call for help.
Alexander De Croo also expressed his
"deep gratitude" to them
.
While the solidarity of the population is being organized throughout the country, these hundreds of foreign rescuers will not be too many to come to the aid of the many Belgian disaster victims.
"The conditions are so extreme that it was not always possible to immediately help everyone,
" admitted Federal Minister of the Interior, Annelies Verlinden.
Read also:
In France, two months of precipitation in 48 hours: why is it so bad in July?
Are Belgian relief supplies insufficient and under-equipped, as the Socialist Minister-President of Wallonia, Elio Di Rupo, said on Friday morning, pointing to the recent reform of the Civil Protection security zones? While the country is in shock, Alexander De Croo wants to postpone these discussions until later. “
Doing an assessment in the middle of a disaster is the last thing to do.
"