Belgium

Romanian tennis player Jaqueline Cristian qualified for the quarterfinals of the WTA tournament in Palermo (Italy), equipped with total prizes of 189,708 euros, after defeating Chinese Qinwen Zheng, in two sets, 6-1, 6-4, on Wednesday evening. Cristian (23 years old, WTA's 159) sealed her victory after an hour and 26 minutes of playing, against an opponent who had defeated seed no.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel surveyed what she called a "surreal, ghostly" scene in a devastated village on July 18, pledging quick financial aid and a redoubled political focus on curbing climate change as the death toll from floods in Western Europe climbed above 180.

The Turkiye Diyanet Foundation launched an aid campaign in Belgium on July 18 to support the victims of floods in the east of the country.

In an announcement made in Turkish, French and Flemish for the campaign, the foundation called for solidarity to help the flood victims.

The announcement said the amount collected in the campaign would be delivered to the authorities.

A Turkish-Austrian couple last week was rescued by their next-door neighbor from the devastating floods caused by downpours in parts of Europe.

The floods in Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Austria wreaked astonishing devastation, killing close to 100 so far, with over 1,300 people still missing.

Chancellor Angela Merkel is to visit flood-ravaged areas in Germany on July 18 to survey the damage and meet survivors, after days of extreme rainfall in western Europe left at least 183 people dead and dozens missing.

The water level in many cities is still very high, numerous houses have continued to collapse, and rescuers have been searching for survivors in the most endangered parts of West Germany since this morning, Reuters reports.

Devastating floods have torn through entire villages and killed at least 128 people in Europe, most of them in western Germany where stunned emergency services were still combing the wreckage on July 16. 

Unsuspecting residents were caught completely off guard by the torrent dubbed the "flood of death" by German newspaper Bild.

Bucharest, July 16 /Agerpres/ - On Friday, Romania's Prime Minister Florin Citu sent messages of condolence to the families of flood victims in Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and Germany, voicing his solidarity with the people stricken by floods. "Deeply saddened by the loss of lives caused by floods in Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg. My thoughts are with all those affected.

German emergency responders were on July 16 still searching for hundreds of missing people after the worst floods in living memory killed more than 80 in the country's west.

"I fear that we will only see the full extent of the disaster in the coming days," Chancellor Angela Merkel said from Washington, where she met with President Joe Biden.

Heavy rainfall caused devastating floods and landslides.
A heavy downpour hit the province of Rize and caused the movement of cars and the collapse of a number of houses, reports the AP agency.
Heavy rains also closed access to dozens of villages and cut off electricity.