Yes. Horrific scenes.
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“A country destroyed” is a bit strong considering that it’s a regional event, but it’s definitely the worst natural disaster around here since at least the North Sea flood of 1962.
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A modern country with good infrastructure and solid building regulations is destroyed by one day’s worth of rain.
But the point is valid! This is one the richest regions of the world covering areas known for their infrastructure and water management. After previous floodings and predictions taking climate change in considerations millions and millions have been spend there on prevention and management in the last decade.
And still this can happen…
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The number is so high because the whole infrastructure broke down and a lot of people can’t be reached. There’s a high probability that most of them will be fine, their family and friends just can’t reach them right now.
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True. Add to this that the affected area covers three different countries with different languages and the the area is very touristic in the summer season. Things are very chaotic right now.
Still, those that know people down there and can’t reach them are understandably very worried.
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People in the building collapse in Florida hoped that too. Turned out not to be true. I do HOPE that people are found safe and sound, but the insistence that we must focus on minutia and pretend like this isn’t a huge disaster, whatever the number, is upsetting.
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This is very different. Floods move and develop after all, it is not like a sudden collapse.
The situation is very chaotic. Many saw the problems developing and … went away. Many tourists(*) in the area for example might just have left, possibly even to another country, not knowing they are on a list.
Many locals would not have gone to evacuation centres but to family or friends, or even just a second house, again probably even in a different country without notifying the authorities.
People have been put on the list by worried neighbours, friends, colleagues and the like who are not high on their call list. Phone connections in the area are unreliable anyway. And when on the list you stay on the list for now because it is not like they are all assigned an investigator to check on them. The police there are busy, you know?
(*It is an extremely popular short-holiday destination for very populated nearby areas like the Ruhr region and Randstad.)
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Partially answered here, poor or no communication to the sites
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To be honest I wouldn’t trust the BBC on EU or German matters if they told me the water was wet there.
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They’re all right actually, my first stop for an outside view beyond the German media. They certainly know a lot more about Europe than the Americans.
Are there any good sites for EU news in English and without paywalls?
Thanks!
Europe News | Today's latest from Al Jazeera for an outsider view
https://www.france24.com/en/europe/ for a French perspective, a bit too francocentric at times
https://www.politico.eu/ Could seek the centre a bit more at times, still reliable
Europe | The Guardian A bit UK centric obvs.
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Oh well, I expect those academics quoted in the article don’t know what they were talking about. /s
Should have had one of these:
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Anyone in the area do Duck tours? That would be useful about now.
I have friends in the area. They are okay, but the area around them…! 
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… aand it’s happening in Austria as well (though not nearly as bad):
And for the linguistically inclined, where our German friend says “Alter” (subtitled as ‘dude’, literally ‘old one’, but literal translation never makes sense), Austrians tend to say ‘Oida’. It’s oficially the same language, and it’s the same word 
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Back to the main topic, I actually visited as similar situation 2019 after a mild flooding in Berlin. There was some standing water under a train bridge where already four cars were stuck…
… than an electric BMW thought his car would be immune to water and drove right ahead
Not pictured… obviously he got stuck as well.I can only guess there was a lot of verbalizing “Scheisse!” involved as well.
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Yep. Once the undercarriage is underwater, you’re starting to float. It doesn’t feel like a boat at first, but the wheels are starting to lose traction because the full weight of the car isn’t on them anymore.
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