More than 1,000 people are feared missing as floodwaters ravage western Germany

The death toll from the floods in western Germany rose to 81 on Friday and more than 1,000 people are believed to be missing from one of the worst natural disasters in decades.

Officials in Ahrweiler state, south of Cologne, say about 1,300 people appear to be missing since Thursday night. Low-level networks are low, however, which makes it difficult to calculate those in need.

“Because of the devastating nature of the disaster, a final analysis of the case will not be possible,” the provincial government wrote on its page.

Thursday’s storm caused floodwaters to flow into most of the states of North Rhine-Westphalia and parts of the Rhineland-Palatinate. Travel routes were closed in some areas, as houses collapsed in the state of Erfstadt, outside Cologne.

German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer told the newspaper Spiegel that the government wants to provide financial assistance to governments affected by the crisis in the near future.

“In all my political work in Germany I have never seen a catastrophic flood, with many dying and missing,” Seehofer said. No one can deny that this catastrophe is linked to climate change. ”