At least 1,300 are missing in Germany after the floods

ΤAt least 1,300 people are missing after floods in the Rhineland-Palatinate area of ​​Bad Noyenar-Arvailer, with 67 people killed in bad weather. A spokesman for the local authorities spoke of “even more dead”.

However, according to the same spokesperson, the mobile telephony network in the area is paralyzed, a fact which, as she said, has as a consequence that many who are considered missing are unable to communicate. “We hope this happens,” said a local government spokeswoman, adding that the death toll was expected to rise, but did not give a specific number. “There are people who are dead, people who are missing, people who are in danger.

We have never seen such a catastrophe. It’s really scary, “said Rhineland-Palatinate Prime Minister Malou Dreier (SPD). For his part, Armin, Lassett, Prime Minister of North Rhine-Westphalia, who was also at the center of the disaster, linked, according to the Athens News Agency, the extreme weather of the last days – heat and then heavy rainfall – with climate change. Mr Lassett has repeatedly been criticized for his support of coal mines in his area and for blocking the installation of wind turbines at the same time.

However, Stefan Ramstorf, a professor of oceanophysics at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, said it was still unclear whether West Germany’s rainfall was a direct result of global warming. «But we can say that such events are happening more and more often, due to the greenhouse effect.He clarified.

Armin Lassett, who spoke last night on a live ZDF broadcast from Stolberg in Aachen, one of the worst-hit areas, said every effort would be made to repair the damage as soon as possible. roads, bridges and other facilities. The efforts of the emergency services and the Armed Forces operating in the affected areas are assisted by American volunteers from the neighboring air base of Spangdalem, by distributing hundreds of sandbags to the residents of the area.