The death toll is rising in flooded Europe - police are searching with divers

The rainstorm that has caused floods, great devastation and the deaths of at least 190 people, especially in western Germany and Belgium, has decreased in strength and is moving further east.

However, the water level is still high in many places.

In Munich, the river Isar has risen by several meters and the authorities are alerting to the risk of flooding.

This also applies to Lake Königsee at the very bottom of southeastern Germany, where a number of hundreds of people have been evacuated, but no injuries have been reported, writes TT.

Uses motorboats and divers

The death toll in Germany rose to 165 on Monday after rescue services searched affected cities in search of the dozens of people who are still missing, according to the news agency AFP.

Many of the victims have been found in flooded basements where they tried to retrieve their valuables, while others were dragged along by the powerful water currents.

Rescue workers have been out in large numbers to evaluate damage to buildings, clean up debris and restore gas, electricity and telephone networks.

In some places, the police have used motorboats and divers in the search, reports TT.

Danger over the Steinbach dam

On Monday, an expert panel also gathered to make a new assessment of the Steinbachtalsperre dam in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia.

The water level in the dam has been able to be lowered so much in the last two days, via the dam outlet and with the help of additional pumping systems, that the experts now assume that the position of the dam is stable.

"You are no longer worried that the dam will burst.

All fish will be picked up within the next few days and the dam will be emptied completely ", German authorities write on Twitter.

Local authorities and the police are informed and will take all further action.

Through the district authority, the return of the evacuated residents shall be ensured in an orderly manner.

At the same time, Bayerische Rundfunk (BR) reports that the police are forced to invest resources in preventing people from getting to the worst-affected areas to take selfies by flooding roads and houses.

Three people have also been arrested on suspicion of looting in the flood-hit city of Eschweiler in western Germany, writes BR.

- It makes me angry when I hear that people are currently returning to their ruined houses and discover that looters have stolen the little they have left, says North Rhine-Westphalia's Prime Minister Armin Laschet (CDU).