Germany

AHRWEILER, Germany (AP) — Like other residents of his town in Germany, Wolfgang Huste knew a flood was coming. What nobody told him, he says, was how bad it would be.

The 66-year-old antiquarian bookseller in Ahrweiler said the first serious warning to evacuate or move to higher floors of buildings close to the Ahr River came through loudspeaker announcements at around 8 p.m. on July 14. Huste then heard a short emergency siren blast and church bells ring, followed by silence.

“It was spooky, like in a horror film,” he said.

BERLIN, July 22 (NNN-Xinhua) — Germany would pay 400 million euros for victims of last week’s floods, which were supposed to be available immediately, Minister of Finance and Vice Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced at a press conference.

It was necessary to quickly send the message to people in the affected areas “that there is a future, that we care together, that this is a matter for us as a whole country, that we are helping,” Scholz said.

BERLIN, July 22 (Reuters) - Germany's Angela Merkel made clear on Thursday she would keep working on issues such as climate change till her last day as chancellor but, inscrutable as ever, gave little away about her plans once she leaves office after a September 26 election.

Merkel has led Germany for 16 years, steering Europe's biggest economy through a global financial crisis, the euro zone debt crisis, a migrant crisis and the coronavirus pandemic, but she is not running for a fifth term.

BERLIN (AP) — Germany’s Cabinet met Wednesday to decide on a package of immediate aid for victims of last week’s floods and consider longer-term plans to rebuild devastated areas.

Chancellor Angela Merkel and ministers are expected to approve a package of around 400 million euros ($472 million), financed half by the federal government and half by Germany’s state governments, to help people deal with the immediate aftermath of the flooding and repair some of the damage.

BERLIN, July 20 (Reuters) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel headed again to the country's flood disaster zone on Tuesday, her government besieged by questions over how Europe's richest economy was caught flat-footed by flooding that had been predicted days earlier.

The floods have killed more than 160 people in Germany since tearing through villages, sweeping away houses, roads and bridges last week, highlighting gaps in how warnings of severe weather are passed on to the population.

20 July 2021; MEMO: German journalist associations on Monday demanded clarification and counter-measures in the wake of revelations about the use of an Israeli-made spying software against activists and reporters, says Anadolu Agency.

BERLIN (AP) — German officials are defending their preparations for flooding in the face of the raging torrents that caught many people by surprise and left over 190 people dead in Western Europe, but they concede that they will need to learn lessons from the disaster.

BERLIN (AP) — The death toll from flooding in Western Europe climbed above 180 on Sunday after rescue workers dug deeper into debris left by receding waters.

Police put the toll from the hard-hit Ahrweiler area of western Germany’s Rhineland-Palatinate state at 110 and said they feared the number may still rise. In neighboring North Rhine-Westphalia state, Germany’s most populous, 45 people were confirmed dead, including four firefighters. And Belgium has confirmed 27 casualties.

BERLIN (AP) — At least 110 people have died in devastating floods across parts of western Germany and Belgium, officials said Friday, as rescue operations and the search for hundreds still unaccounted for continued.

German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier said he was “stunned” by the devastation caused by the flooding and pledged support to the families of those killed and to cities and towns facing significant damage.

BERLIN (AP) — More than 20 people have died and dozens of people are missing in Germany and neighboring Belgium after heavy flooding turned streams and streets into raging torrents, sweeping away cars and causing buildings to collapse.

Storms across parts of western Europe in recent days caused rivers and reservoirs to burst their banks, resulting in flash floods as rain-soaked soil failed to absorb any more water.