Ahrweiler

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.

More than 90 people were killed and 618 others were injured in the Ahrweiler district in Germany's southwestern state of Rhineland-Palatinate as a result of floods, Koblenz police said on Saturday.

Turks affected by a deadly flood disaster in Germany recalled on July 16 the harrowing moments to save lives. 

Ali Sarısu, who has been living in Sinzig in Rhineland-Palatinate for five years, said he woke up late Thursday to the sound of water and looked out from his balcony.

Chancellor Angela Merkel expressed her condolences to the victims of "the catastrophe, the scale of which will only be seen in the coming days."
More than 1.000 rescuers are helping the area, while authorities say it is too early to determine the extent of the damage.

 The death toll from floods caused by heavy rains in the western German states of Rhineland-Palatinate and North Rhine-Westphalia rose to 45, media reported.

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.

Six houses had collapsed overnight in the village of Schuld

Hours after Greece's outspoken Alternate Health Minister Pavlos Polakis attacked Paris-based historian Helene Glykatzi-Ahrweiler for criticizing the flaws of the Greek left, Ahrweiler stood her ground over her remarks.