Addis Ababa, July 19, 2021(Walta) – German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Sunday visited flood-ravaged areas of the country to survey the damage and meet survivors, after days of extreme downpours in Western Europe left at least 183 people dead and dozens missing.
Merkel traveled to the village of Schuld in Rhineland-Palatinate state, one of the two hardest-hit regions in western Germany.
“It is shocking – I can almost say that the German language doesn’t have words for the destruction that’s been wrecked,” she told reporters while pledging quick aid to rebuild.
At least 156 have died in the devastating disaster in Germany. In Rhineland-Palatinate state alone, local authorities reported 110 dead and 670 injured.
Other countries including Belgium, Switzerland, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands are also affected. Belgium said at least 27 people have lost their lives so far.
The devastation of the floods, attributed by meteorologists to a climate change-driven shift in the jet stream, has brought inland water that once stayed at sea.
“The sum of all events that we are witnessing in Germany and the forces with which they occur all suggest that it has something to do with climate change,” Merkel told residents of Adenau in Rhineland-Palatinate during her visit. “We have to hurry; we have to get faster in the fight against climate change”, she added, according to CGTN.