The historic floods that hit Belgium have left at least 27 dead, according to a latest official report communicated this Saturday by the authorities, while Prime Minister Alexander De Croo visited the disaster areas.
The Belgian crisis center, which centralizes data at the national level, also deplores 103 people from whom we have no news.
Visit of the Prime Minister and the President of the European Commission
Alexander De Croo and the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, went this Saturday morning to Rochefort, in the south of the country, one of the municipalities hit by the disaster. They started their visit with a visit to the fire station. They also had to meet with affected residents and local officials. Around 12:30 p.m., they planned to go to Pepinster, in the east of the country, a town which alone concentrates half of the country’s victims.
The floods of the last few days are “unprecedented in our country,” Alexander De Croo said on Friday. The last official report Friday afternoon reported 20 dead and twenty missing. The weather has improved across the country with the end of precipitation on Friday, the appearance of the sun and the arrival of summer temperatures on Saturday. As a result, the level of the streams receded, revealing a desolate landscape.
Some 120 municipalities have been affected across the country. In the disaster areas, mainly in the south and east of the country, police officers were mobilized to knock on the doors of homes in order to discover possible new victims. Belgium declared a day of national mourning on Tuesday, the eve of its national holiday. In the afternoon, Alexander De Croo still had to travel to Eupen, in the east, German-speaking part of the country, then to Maaseik, in the Flemish region in the east of the country.