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Angela Merkel and Malu Dreyer in debt: worst flood disaster for decades
Photo: SASCHA STEINBACH / EPA
Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) arrived on Sunday for a visit to the flood-affected areas in Rhineland-Palatinate.
Around noon Merkel was to blame in the Eifel community, which had been hit particularly hard by the flood disaster.
The Chancellor was accompanied by the Rhineland-Palatinate Prime Minister Malu Dreyer (SPD).
The local mayor of Schuld, Helmut Lussi, welcomed Merkel.
TV pictures showed them talking to emergency services on a bridge.
In the afternoon, Merkel wants to make a statement to the press in Adenau.
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Flood in North Rhine-Westphalia and Rhineland-Palatinate: The weather disaster that changes the election campaign
156 dead in Germany so far
The storm in the Ahrweiler district killed at least 110 people and injured 670 people.
The search for dead and injured people continues in the region, so the number of victims could increase even further.
Power and telephone lines are partly interrupted.
While the masses of water in the Eifel and southwest of North Rhine-Westphalia have retreated in many places, new rains in southeast Bavaria, Saxon Switzerland and Austria caused flooding.
The Berchtesgadener Land is particularly affected.
"Vehicles on the streets became the plaything of the masses of water," reported a chief of operations.
More heavy rain is predicted for Sunday.
Many houses were destroyed in the worst flood disaster in Germany for decades.
Bridges, roads and railways are in ruins.
Overall, the number of victims rose to at least 156.
Quick help for victims
State and federal politicians have promised the victims of the flood quick help.
Armin Laschet said that money should be paid out very unbureaucratically.
Finance Minister Olaf Scholz (SPD) promised emergency aid in the hundreds of millions.
"It takes a national show of strength," he told the "Bild am Sonntag".
On Wednesday, the Vice Chancellor intends to put two things on the table in the cabinet: “Firstly, emergency aid, which required well over 300 million euros during the last flood. So much will be needed now, ”Scholz explained. Second, we have to lay the foundations for a reconstruction program so that the destroyed houses, roads and bridges can be repaired quickly. As we know from the previous catastrophe, it is billions of euros. "