Live blog
Status: 07/16/2021 7:50 a.m.
The number of deaths has now risen to 81, and numerous people are still missing. In Erftstadt more houses have collapsed, roads around the Ahr valley are closed. The events in the live blog.
- Numerous people went missing
- Flooded residential area in the Allgäu
- Rurtalsperre overflows
- Houses in Erftstadt collapsed
07:25 am
81 dead in total, 50 dead in Rhineland-Palatinate
According to the authorities, the number of deaths as a result of the storm has now risen to 81. For Rhineland-Palatinate, the police said the dead were 50. “The fear is that there will be more,” said a spokesman for the Koblenz police headquarters in the morning. The salvage work continued.
07:22 am
Roads around Ahrtal closed
After the storm, several roads around the Ahr valley are still closed. The Autobahn 61 is not passable on either side between the Meckenheim and Türnich interchange, as the Koblenz police announced on Friday morning. The federal highway 9 is also closed on both sides between Bad Breisig and Remagen. The police ask drivers to drive around the Ahr valley. Rescue workers are still in use.
07:15 am
House collapses in Erftstadt
In Erftstadt-Blessem a number of houses have collapsed in whole or in part. The Cologne district government announced this in the morning. The cause is massive and rapidly progressing underwashing of the houses. Emergency calls keep coming from the houses. At the moment, people could only be rescued from the water by boat. In addition, a gas leak that cannot be shut off complicates the rescue work. Several nursing homes would be evacuated.
7:10 am
Visit in debt the day after the disaster
The masses of water devastated the village of Schuld in Rhineland-Palatinate within a very short time. Houses were swept away, trees buckled like matches, many people are desperate.
06:41 am
Numerous people went missing
Large numbers of people are still missing in the areas affected by the floods. The Interior Minister of Rhineland-Palatinate, Roger Lewentz, spoke on Thursday evening that the fate of 40 to 60 people in the region around Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler was still unclear. The Ahrweiler district even spoke of 1,300 people still missing in the district. A spokeswoman explained that with a partially paralyzed cellular network. Therefore there is no cell phone reception and many people cannot be reached.
05:45 am
Flooded residential area in Wangen im Allgäu
In Wangen im Allgäu in the Ravensburg district, a residential area was flooded late Thursday evening due to the heavy rain. As the police headquarters in Ravensburg announced early Friday morning, initially two bridge flows of the Epplingser Bach were blocked by debris. As a result, the bank was crossed and flooded the adjacent residential area Epplingser Halde. According to the emergency services, some of the water in the residential area was knee-high – numerous cellars and garages were full of water. In a block-type thermal power station, the water was up to 1.60 meters high. It was initially unclear how many houses were affected by the flooding.
05:05 am
Rurtalsperre overflows
The Rurtalsperre overflows as a result of the immense amounts of rain during storms in North Rhine-Westphalia. As the Wasserverband Eifel-Rur (WVER) announced on Friday night, the dam has overflowed “with little dynamism” since 11:50 pm. Initially, the association had expected it around 8 p.m. The inflows to the dams have “happily reduced” in the past few hours. According to the association, the Urft reservoir upstream of the Rurtalsperre had already overflowed. As a result, the latter filled up faster. In the aftermath, floods in the lower reaches of the Rur are to be expected. Floods in basements and houses are to be expected. The district of Düren had already warned of the risk of flooding in the cities of Heimbach, Nideggen and the municipality of Kreuzau. Early on Friday morning, the district tweeted that the Rur’s level rise could be noticeable about three hours after the overflow in Obermaubach, in Düren after about four and in Jülich after 6 to 7 hours.
The water association warned that people should not be near the river, as there is a risk of being carried away. Also, basements that are full should not be entered because there is a risk of electric shocks. If possible, the power should be switched off beforehand. Evacuations can also be expected in areas particularly affected by floods. Roads could also be blocked.