“When we looked out the attic window upstairs in the morning … it was like a lake here,” she recalled. “We have to put climate protection at the heart of our security strategy,” De Croo said.Įdith Stoffels, who has lived in the German village of Gemuend near the border with Belgium for 50 years, put it more bluntly, calling the 2021 floods “a nightmare.” climate agreements reached in Glasgow last year. In Belgium, where 39 people died in the floods, Prime Minister Alexander De Croo said “we cannot just sit and wait for the next flooding, the next heat wave or drought that will claim lives.” He insisted nations needed to build on the U.N. Adapting to the already existing consequences of climate change is part of that too.” “Protecting the climate and preserving creation are the greatest tasks of our time. “We have to prepare better for such major incidents,” said Hendrik Wuest, the governor of Germany’s North Rhine-Westphalia state, where 49 people died. ![]() Also disappointed that rebuilding at home, in their own house, but also the rebuilding of public infrastructure, is in some cases only progressing slowly,” he said.Įxperts say such disasters will become more frequent due to climate change. Mayor Guido Orthen acknowledged the lingering frustration in the region, although he said “people’s solidarity was and is indescribable” and the area was grateful for the “unique” support from a government rebuilding fund. It also goes with regard to the future.”Īt the memorial in Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler, the main town in Germany’s Ahr valley, the crowd held a minute of silence for the flood victims as church bells pealed and the victims’ first names were projected on a screen. “That goes for the sorrow, which won’t leave us so quickly. “We are going to need strength for a very long time yet,” the head of the local government, Cornelia Weigand, said at a memorial event attended by Chancellor Olaf Scholz. Flooding caused by heavy rain hit the region on Jcausing the death of about 130 people. A worker walks by a home damaged from last year's floods, that is now torn down in the village of Ahrbrueck in the Ahrtal valley, Germany, Wednesday, July 6, 2022. Reconstruction work is still going on and scars of the devastation are clearly visible. The wine-growing region south of Cologne was hardest hit by the floods. German President Frank-Walter Steinmeiner visited the Ahr valley, where at least 134 people died when heavy rain turned streams into raging torrents that swept away houses, roads and bridges. ![]() BERLIN (AP) - Warning that disaster prevention must be improved, Germany and Belgium on Thursday commemorated the deadly floods that hit a year ago with high-profile memorials to pay tribute to the more than 230 people who lost their lives in those countries.
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