AP: “Rescue workers labored to clear up damage laid bare by receding water Saturday as the death toll from disastrous flooding in Western Europe rose above 150 and thoughts turned to the lengthy job of rebuilding communities devastated in minutes. Police said that more than 90 people are now known to have died in western Germany’s Ahrweiler county, one of the worst-hit areas, and more casualties are feared. Another 43 people were confirmed dead in neighboring North Rhine-Westphalia state. Belgium’s national crisis center put the country’s confirmed death toll at 24 and said it expects the number to rise. Days of heavy rain turned streets into raging rivers this week and caused the disastrous flooding that swept away cars, destroyed homes and trapped residents.”

“By Saturday, most of those missing had been accounted for, but receding floodwaters were receding across much of the affected regions, revealing the extent of the damage. ‘A lot of people have lost everything they spent their lives building up – their possessions, their home, the roof over their heads,’ German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier said after meeting rescue workers and others in the town of Erftstadt. ‘It may only be possible to clear up in weeks how much damage needs to be compensated,’ he said. Steinmeier said that people in the affected areas are counting on continuing support. ‘Many people here in these regions have nothing left but their hope, and we must not disappoint this hope,’ he said.”