Families trapped by extreme floods in Europe 3:28
(CNN) -
At least 194 people have died and hundreds more are still missing after catastrophic floods hit large swaths of Western Europe.
Tens of thousands of people were unable to return to their homes and many were left without access to electricity and clean water.
The floods, caused by unprecedented rains, affected parts of western Germany, as well as Belgium and the Netherlands.
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Homes were damaged by flooding in Insul, Germany, on Thursday, July 15.
The Ahr river overflowed the night before.
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A man walks through water in a flood-affected area after heavy rains in Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler, Germany.
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A regional train stopped at the local station in Kordel, Germany, after it was flooded by rising waters from the river Kyll.
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Residents use rafts to evacuate after the Meuse river overflowed during heavy flooding in Liege, Belgium.
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People look at a railroad crossing that was destroyed by floods in Priorei, Germany.
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Men walk past damaged houses in Schuld, Germany.
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A man inspects what remains of his home in Schuld.
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Water from the Ahr River runs over a damaged bridge in Schuld.
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Evacuees travel by bus in Valkenburg aan de Geul, the Netherlands.
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A car floats on the Meuse river during heavy flooding in Liege, Belgium, on Thursday.
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People walk along a damaged road in Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler, Germany.
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A resident uses a bucket to draw water from the basement of a house in Hagen, Germany.
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A man and a woman stand on the steps of their house as they look at the floodwaters in Geulle, the Netherlands.
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The river Volme overflows in Priorei, Germany, on Thursday.
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A man descends a ladder in an attempt to drop his boat on the Meuse River in Liege, Belgium.
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Motorhomes were partially submerged in Roermond, the Netherlands.
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A building was destroyed in a flood-affected area of Schuld, Germany.
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People walk over a flooded area in Stansstad, Switzerland.
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Cars were covered in debris in Hagen, Germany.
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An area affected by floods in Schuld, Germany.
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Several areas in the southern Netherlands remain evacuated after the Meuse river rose to levels not seen in more than a century on Saturday.
In Venlo, a city that sits on the Meuse, 10,000 people had to leave their homes.
The rapid rise in water levels forced volunteers and the military to work around the clock on Saturday to prepare the city for flooding.
They made sandbags and put up flood defenses as engineers focused on strengthening the levees after one of those embankments broke in South Limburg province on Friday, causing large-scale flooding in surrounding areas.
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The preparation paid off: Venlo's regional safety agency said levees and flood defenses were maintained overnight and no major flooding was expected.
Meanwhile, in Germany, the true magnitude of the destruction caused by the floods was being revealed as the water receded over the weekend, leaving behind devastation, mud and chaos.
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Catastrophic floods devastate cities in Europe 1:21
Entire cities, rail lines and roads were razed and at least 158 people died in what German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier described as the "worst natural disaster" in a century.
Most of the deaths were by far in the western state of Rhineland-Palatinate, where 110 people lost their lives, according to a statement released by Koblenz police on Sunday.
Visiting Schuld, one of the hardest-hit cities, on Sunday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the devastation was "surreal."
"It's shocking, I can almost say that the German language has no words for devastation," he told reporters in the Rhineland-Palatinate city of Adenau.
Merkel promised that her government would provide financial aid quickly.
Speaking with Merkel, the Prime Minister of the state of Rhineland-Palatinate, Malu Dreyer, said the area was "a place of horror and destruction."
Pope Francis expressed his solidarity with the regions affected by the disaster.
"May the Lord receive the deceased and comfort their loved ones, may he sustain the efforts of all who are helping those who have suffered serious harm," he said during a speech at the Vatican on Sunday.
In Belgium, the National Crisis Center reported on Sunday that the situation was gradually improving across the country and that flood-affected areas are "out of imminent danger."
He added that the search for victims continues and that the biggest concern at this time was the lack of clean water in some of the worst affected areas.
At least 31 people have died in the country, according to the center.
"Rescue operations have concluded, but search operations are still ongoing in several areas," the center said in a statement.
The devastating floods came after parts of Western Europe experienced historic levels of rain, with the equivalent of more than a month of rain falling in 24 hours.
Cologne in North Rhine-Westphalia recorded 154 millimeters of rain in 24 hours through Thursday morning, which is almost double its July monthly average of 87 millimeters.
In the Ahrweiler district, 207 millimeters of rain fell in just nine hours, according to the European severe weather database.
The downpours resulted in extreme flash flooding, with water levels rising within minutes.
While it's too early for scientists to say what role climate change has played in causing this particular flood, extreme rainfall events like those seen in Western Europe this week are becoming more common and more severe.
CNN's Sam Kiley, Tomas Etzler, Atika Shubert, Vasco Cotovio, Sarah Dean, Barbara Wojazer, Sharon Braithwaite, Martin Goillandeau and Joseph Ataman contributed reporting. Ivana Kottasová wrote from London.
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