Europe flood death toll tops 160; costly rebuilding ahead

As terrible as it is for the individual person (and the affected should get as much help as possible), this is mostly self-inflicted. Why? Because over the past decades, natural rivers, wet areas, swamps etc. have been turned into concrete covered areas and straight canals. If there is heavy rainfall (which always happens, always!), then there needs to be enough buffer area so that the water doesn't rush down like madness and destroys everything ... as it did now in Western Europe. Climate change has nothing to do with it. There are reports of disastrous flooding and flood marks higher than the current ones from back to the 1500. Even just going back the past 100 years we see flooding all over the places. Nature is brutal, and you need to plan for this. Have enough buffer areas, don't build in old river beds that get instantly flooded when there is a rush.

“We will do everything so that what needs to be rebuilt can be rebuilt,” Laschet said.

Hopefully the above will include trying to understand why drainage systems failed so badly in so many places, and will include future measures to reduce the likelihood of similar problems happening again.

Given the predictions of harder weather-related events ahead, governments at all levels need to rethink development standards, especially when something is allowed to be built in an environmentally sensitive area or an area that has previously experienced extreme events like floods, sinkages and/or landslides.

While unrelenting virus continue bashing Europe without any qualm, this sudden dirty floods compound the killings mercilessly.

Many Europeans are now in a lost state of mind..

West Europe, i.e. Ger-Bel-Ned have one the most dense rivers networks in the world.

They are 1 mega rain from flooding like this

@Avenger, the village hit most severely by the flood sits in a natural river bend, no concrete, no previous reports of flooding this scale. Low pressure area was locked by high pressure at the east that's why this enormous rainfall was possible. If anything like this had ever occurred in the west of Germany, there would have been precautions. There's a difference between 1 ft of water in your cellar or your house being swept away!

Climate change is real, expect more and worse.