Belgium The number of deaths in the floods rises to 27
Germany Death toll in western floods rises to 135
The German Chancellor,
Angela Merkel
, has gone this Sunday to one of the regions affected by the devastating floods in western Germany, whose death toll rises to 156 people, while the danger of overflows grows in the east and south of the country .
The German leader moved to the "Land" of Rhineland Palatinate, which corresponds to the highest number of deaths -110-, all of them in the Ahrweiler region, located between the cities of Koblenz and Cologne. There is the small town of
Schuld
, of about 700 inhabitants, which was practically washed away by the waters of the Ahr River, a tributary of the Rhine.
Merkel is accompanied by the head of the regional government, the social democrat Malu Dreyer, with whom she plans to appear before the media in the early afternoon, after visiting other parts of the region.
It is the second high-ranking visit to the
regions hit by the floods
, after which yesterday the country's president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, made to the neighboring "Land" of North Rhine-Westphalia, where he met with the regional prime minister. and candidate for the German Chancellery, the conservative Armin Laschet.
300 MILLION DIRECT URGENT AID
Merkel's Council of Ministers will address
a special package
next Wednesday
that includes both
direct and urgent aid
to those affected as well as the reconstruction of ruined infrastructures in the region.
The Minister of Finance, Olaf Scholz, a Social Democratic candidate for the Chancellery, has advanced to the media that
no resources will be spared
.
An amount of at least 300 million is expected in direct aid to the victims, with amounts of about 10,000 euros for those affected and that will begin to be paid this July.
So far there is no assessment of the amount of damage to infrastructure in the region, although in the media there is talk of billions.
In the 2013 floods, less dramatic but which affected eight of the 16 "Länder" in the country, the Executive approved a special package of 8,000 million euros.
GROWN IN SAXONIA AND BAVARIA
The water pressure has subsided in western Germany, where since yesterday there has been no significant rainfall.
In both federal states, work is already
underway to clear debris and reinforce dikes and canals
, as well as to reestablish basic services, from rail and land communications to the supply of electricity and drinking water.
On the other hand, the situation has become more tense in Saxony -east- and Bavaria -south-, where there have been some overflows after days of persistent rains and residents of some towns have been evacuated.
In several areas a
state of alarm
has been declared
and in a town in Upper Bavaria two fatalities have already been reported.
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