Aerial photos of the devastating floods in Germany show houses buckled and crushed, cars and SUVs thrown around, and water flowing through residential areas.
Historic torrential rains this week inundated parts of western Germany and Belgium, wiping out roads, cutting off communications and sparking a regional state of emergency as authorities tried to track down up to 1,500 suspected missing people.
At least 126 people in Germany and Belgium are dead, according to NBC News.
Resident Andreas Müller said that after many attempts he had finally reached his loved ones around the village of Schuld in the badly affected state of Rhineland-Palatinate.
“Yes, there was no phone connection either, but we tried to reach them all night,” he said. “And it was very difficult to get.”
The torrential rains overflowed rivers and carried away vehicles, sometimes even bicycles. Many houses, businesses and buildings appeared to be completely lost, their lumber scattered nearby or sent downstream.
Weather experts said rain and flooding were rare and the week’s devastation could be the region’s worst natural disaster in more than 50 years.
The World Meteorological Organization said devastated areas rained for up to two months within two days.
WMO spokeswoman Clare Nullis said it was too early to attribute the floods to the radical weather caused by rising global temperatures, but added, “Climate change is already increasing the frequency of extreme global warming events.”
President Joe Biden offered his condolences to the survivors in Germany and Belgium on behalf of the American people.
The Associated Press helped.