Germany grapples with the human and political fallout of the devastating floods

“THE FLOODSNRWNRW and destruction are unimaginable. We cannot even assess the scale of the damage yet,” says Carolin Weitzel, the mayor of Erftstadt, a town in North-Rhine Westphalia (), south-west of Cologne. Blessem, a part of her city, was evacuated after a landslide spreading from a nearby quarry created a huge crater that reached the edge of the town. Part of its historic castle collapsed. Streets were smashed and covered with water and mud. Cars were carried away by the torrents and turned upside down. The contents of family homes became piles of muddy rubbish. Even the crosses at the local cemetery were submerged under water.Erftstadt was one of the settlements hit most dramatically by the devastating floods in Europe that have cost more than 200 lives in Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands, with the toll still rising. In at least 48 people have died. And in the district of Ahrweiler in Rhineland-Palatinate alone at least 122 have died. Across the country, 160 more people are still missing and now feared dead. So far Erftstadt is not mourning any deaths, but not all its inhabitants have been accounted for.