Chinanews, July 21st, a comprehensive report, so far, the floods in Germany have killed at least 170 people, and many people are still missing. This disaster has caused billions of euros in losses in Germany.
Insurance companies estimate that the direct damage caused by the flood may be as high as 3 billion euros. According to the German Bild newspaper, the Ministry of Transport estimates that the cost of repairing damaged roads and railways is 2 billion euros.
A government source said on the 19th that an emergency rescue worth about 400 million euros is being discussed, half of which will be paid by the federal government and the other half by the states. The rescue plan is expected to include billions of euros for long-term reconstruction work, which will be submitted to the Cabinet on the 21st.
Earlier on the 20th, Merkel arrived in Bad Munstereifel accompanied by the governor of North Rhine-Westphalia Amin Raschelt. She discussed the current situation with local government officials, rescuers and local residents. Bad Munster Eifel belongs to the Euskirchen district, which was the hardest hit.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said that due to a mobile network failure, many people in Germany did not receive flood warnings over the phone.
She said: “When the mobile network system fails, the SMS alert system we use to send notifications does not work, and this (system failure) happens very quickly.”
On the 18th, she visited the flood-hit areas in the Rhineland-Palatinate state.
Due to heavy rains, floods broke out in western Germany last week. North Rhine-Westphalia and the Rhineland-Palatinate federal states were the hardest hit.
(Editor in charge: Ma Changyan)