Swollen rivers pummel parts of Europe

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17 July 2021 GMT

https://apnews.com/article/europe-business-government-and-politics-environment-and-nature-7a513d2dc9f03a673dc7be8297a1e0bf

Sjöld, Germany (AFP) – Heavy rain turned normally calm rivers into raging torrents in parts of Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands this week, dragging cars and roads with it, destroying entire homes and leaving more than 150 people dead.

The Ahr river in western Germany, usually a secondary tributary of the Rhine, caused some of the worst damage as rapidly rising floodwaters swept through the bend valley on Wednesday evening. Several homes in the village of Shold collapsed, scattering rubble on a bridge over the river. People trying to save their possessions waded into knee-high mud

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The Meuse River smashed its banks in the Belgian city of Liege, leaving some locals to take boats. The German city of Hagen was also hit by severe floods.

In Irwistadt, near Cologne in Germany, people were trapped when the ground collapsed and their homes collapsed. Dozens of their homes were rescued, and aerial photographs showed what appeared to be a massive landslide into a gravel pit on the outskirts of town.

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