(17 Jul 2021) Rescue workers toiled to clear up the damage laid bare by receding water on Saturday as the death toll from disastrous flooding in Western Europe rose above 150 and thoughts turned to the lengthy task of rebuilding areas devastated in minutes by raging rivers.
Police said that more than 90 people are now known to have died in western Germany's Ahrweiler county, one of the worst-hit areas, and more casualties are feared.
Another 43 people were confirmed dead in neighbouring North Rhine-Westphalia state, Germany's most populous.
Belgium's national crisis center put the confirmed death toll there at 24 and said it expects the number to rise.
By Saturday, floodwaters were receding across much of the affected regions, laying bare the extent of the damage.
German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and CDU party leader and North-Rhine Westphalia state governor Armin Laschet were meeting rescue workers and others in the town of Erftstadt.
In Erftstadt, southwest of Cologne, a harrowing rescue effort unfolded on Friday as people were trapped when the ground gave way.
At least three houses and part of a mansion in the town's Blessem district collapsed.
The German military used armoured vehicles to clear away cars and trucks overwhelmed by the floodwaters on a nearby road, some of which were still at least partly submerged.
Officials feared that some people didn't manage to escape in Erftstadt, but no casualties were confirmed by Saturday afternoon.

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