Belgium Holds Mourning Day in the wake of a Deadly Flood | WGN Radio 720

Brussels (AP) - Belgium held a meeting Tuesday to mourn the victims of last week's devastating floods. Meanwhile, German Chancellor Angela Merkel visited for the second time the areas hardest hit by the disaster, which killed nearly 200 people in both countries.

Belgian kings and queens visited the eastern city of Verviers to comfort their loved ones and those who lost most of their possessions when a torrent hit a village in eastern Belgium, killing at least 31 people.

"We will not abandon them," wrote Prime Minister Alexander de Crew in a letter in a local newspaper. "We will do our best to support him."

Some 70 people were still missing or could not be located after heavy rains turned the streets of eastern Belgium into deadly torrents of water, mud and debris. The flag flew at half mast and at noon sirens sounded throughout the country and the prayer continued in silence.

With support from around the country, around 10,000 volunteer workers have volunteered to visit the hills and start cleaning up once the water has receded far enough.

In Germany, Chancellor Angela Merkel visited the western region, which was hit by flash floods, for the second time. This was due to continued work to clean up the pile of mud debris and find more victims from last week's disaster. In the town of Bad Münstere Eifel, Merkel began her journey by visiting the warehouse where donations were stored.

So far, 196 people have been confirmed to have died after the flood. 165 people have died in Germany and 31 in neighboring Belgium.

Chancellor Angela Merkel and Decrue have promised quick financial assistance and a doubling of the political focus on controlling climate change.

The European Union Environment Minister, meeting in Slovenia on Tuesday, highlighted points when evaluating a large and costly EU plan to contain climate change last week.

Jochen Flasbarth, Germany's deputy environment minister, said there was "no alternative" to carry out the plan.

Frans Timmermans, Vice President of the EU Commission, also agreed.

"Last week we saw a little reminder of the fact that not only the cost of human life, but also the material cost of non-behavior is much higher than the cost of action," Timmermans said.

“Humanity faces highly volatile weather patterns: 50 degrees Celsius in northwestern Canada, 40 degrees Celsius in Siberia and 40 degrees Celsius in Central Europe. Floods, droughts, and agriculture face forest fires. It is the result of a climate crisis, ”he said.

Timmermans is the lead architect of a large-scale proposal to spend billions of dollars and force radical reforms in the industry to reduce the gas block emissions that cause global warming over the past decade. ..

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Morson reported from Berlin