Western Germany was hit by torrential rains that swelled rivers, tore up trees, flooded roads and homes. Local authorities have raised the death toll to 19, but many people are still missing. Authorities called on residents to stay at home if possible and "move upstairs if necessary." 

Severe bad weather in Germany, which led to flooding and house collapses, has left at least 19 dead, according to a new report established Thursday by local authorities. The district of Euskirchen (North Rhine-Westphalia) announced Thursday morning the death of eight people, bringing the toll of torrential rains and floods in Germany to 19 dead. Many people are also missing in this region and the neighboring land of Rhineland-Palatinate.

The west of Germany was hit by torrential rains that swelled rivers, tore up trees, flooded roads and homes.

Help is trying to evacuate the victims, many of whom have taken refuge on the roofs of houses.

But many accesses are blocked, complicating operations.

Authorities called on residents to stay at home if possible and "move upstairs if necessary." 

A balance sheet that could grow even heavier

The toll could grow heavier. Thus in the municipality of Schuld, south of Bonn, where six houses along the river have collapsed, the police count between 50 and 60 missing. Four people died in this locality where other houses threaten to collapse, according to the police in Koblenz (Rhineland-Palatinate). Many people are missing in the district. Locals have been urged to send police videos and photos that could provide clues about their missing loved ones. 

Further north, in the region of North Rhine-Westphalia, two firefighters died in intervention, while two men were drowned in their flooded cellar.

In this region, the most populous in Germany, 135,000 homes are without electricity.

Due to a lack of power, the authorities undertook to evacuate the nearly 500 patients from the Leverkusen clinic.

Belgium and Luxembourg also affected

"It's a disaster! There are dead, missing and many people in danger (...)", alarmed the leader of the Rhineland-Palatinate region, Malu Dreyer, in a message on Twitter . The regions of Saarland, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (northeast) have been placed on thunderstorm alert. Tuesday, it was Bavaria, in the south of the country, which had been badly affected, the state of natural disaster having even been declared in the district of Hof, due to flooded roads.

The leader of the Greens in the Bundestag, Katrin Göring-Eckardt, said to see in this drama "the effects of the climatic catastrophe".

These bad weather are a "call to realism": "It is already there, it is already there with us", she said on the RTL channel, calling for an "urgent change".

Neighboring the most affected German regions, Belgium and Luxembourg are also affected by bad weather.