Whole stretches of land have been devastated, places cut off from the outside world, houses washed away: at least 42 people died after storms in western Germany.
Dozens of people are missing in Rhineland-Palatinate.
“We have never seen such a disaster.
It is really devastating, ”said Prime Minister Malu Dreyer (SPD) on Thursday in Mainz.
After the continuous rain, the situation is confusing in many places in Rhineland-Palatinate and North Rhine-Westphalia.
Streets were flooded, cellars overflowed.
Rescuers brought people to safety in flooded areas, some with boats.
Many sought protection from the floods on trees and house roofs, and rescue helicopters were in action.
Dreyer said it was difficult to reach the missing people because the cellular network had partially failed.
You can read all current developments on floods and storms in the live blog here.
Politicians made their way to the disaster area.
NRW Prime Minister and CDU Chancellor candidate Armin Laschet (CDU) got an idea of the situation in Altena and Hagen.
Around 440 emergency services from the fire brigade and technical relief organization and 100 members of the German armed forces were out and about in Hagen alone to master the water masses.
Laschet had broken off a trip through southern Germany and also canceled his participation in the CSU retreat in Seeon, Bavaria.
Merkel: I am shocked
Vice Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) interrupted his vacation because of the flood.
On Thursday, the Federal Finance Minister and SPD candidate for Chancellor, together with Dreyer, wanted to get an idea of the situation in the disaster area, as the ministry announced in Berlin.
The Green Chancellor candidate Annalena Baerbock is also returning prematurely from vacation.
Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) thanked the helpers. "I am shocked by the disaster that so many people have to suffer in the flood areas," said Merkel, according to a tweet from government spokesman Steffen Seibert on Thursday. “My condolences go out to the relatives of the dead and missing. I thank the many tireless helpers and emergency services from the bottom of my heart. ”EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen promised help to the countries affected by the flood disaster.
In Rhineland-Palatinate, several places in the Eifel were particularly hard hit by the flood.
"Unfortunately we have to confirm that the number of fatalities in connection with the flood disaster in the Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler area has now risen to a total of 18," said the police on Twitter in the afternoon.
"Our deepest sympathy goes to all those affected."
Dozens of missing people
Dozens of people were still missing.
The districts of Bitburg-Prüm, Vulkaneifel and Trier-Saarburg are also seriously affected.
In many cases, daycare centers and schools had to remain closed.
In debt to the Ahr, four houses were completely washed away and two other houses half washed away on Thursday night, according to the police in Koblenz.
A large number of other buildings are in danger of collapsing.
The floods cut off several places from the outside world.
About 50 people were rescued from the rooftops on which they had sought refuge.
In the Eifel district of Bitburg-Prüm, too, people were trapped in their homes by the water masses.
The residents of several communities were affected by power outages and restrictions on the drinking water supply.
The situation in North Rhine-Westphalia also remains tense.
After the heavy rain has subsided, the fire brigade and other emergency services are fighting in many places with the worsening flood situation.
At least 24 people died.
The Cologne police reported 20 deaths in the region. In addition to two deaths found in Cologne, 15 have been reported from Euskirchen and three from Rheinbach, the police said on Thursday afternoon. Not all corpses sighted have been recovered yet. "In order to protect relatives, the police will not publish statements about identity, age, location and circumstances of death," the officials said.
It was previously known that people died in connection with the storm in other parts of North Rhine-Westphalia.
In Kamen (Unna district), a 77-year-old was killed in a submerged cellar of his house.
In Solingen, an 82-year-old man died after a fall in the flooded house cellar.
In addition, two firemen died.
A 52-year-old firefighter collapsed during a storm in Werdohl in the Sauerland region and died despite attempts at resuscitation.
A few hours earlier, a firefighter drowned while rescuing a man in Altena in the Sauerland region.
"Severe weather potential drops significantly"
Many rivers and streams in the Eifel, Bergisches Land, Rhineland and Sauerland flooded on Thursday and overflowed their banks on Wednesday and Thursday night.
Streets were flooded, cellars overflowed.
According to the German Weather Service (DWD), the peak of extreme rainfall in parts of Germany has been exceeded.
The DWD meteorologist Marco Manitta expected "a relaxation of the weather" on Thursday.
Although there could still be "punctual heavy rain", this was no longer as widespread as last night, said Manitta of the German press agency.
"The potential for severe weather drops significantly."
According to Manitta, the greatest amounts of precipitation occurred in a wide strip from the Sauerland over the Bergisches Land and the Eifel, the greater Cologne / Bonn area to the border with Luxembourg. The front runner was Rheinbach-Todenfeld (Rhein-Sieg district in North Rhine-Westphalia) with 158 millimeters of water in the measurement period of 24 hours - most of which fell from the sky in a shorter period of time, as the expert explained.