More than 1.000 people missing; "We have never seen such a catastrophe" PHOTO/VIDEO

More than 1.000 people missing; "We have never seen such a catastrophe" PHOTO/VIDEO

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.

Nine residents of the home for the disabled and two firefighters who assisted in the rescue operation were killed in the Rhineland-Palatinate District. Authorities in the Ahrweiler district of West Germany said on Thursday night that they expected the death toll to rise, adding that about 1.300 people were listed as missing, but stressed that it should be borne in mind that there was damage to mobile networks, the Guardian reported.

In the city of Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler, several rescue missions have been carried out, and some are still ongoing. "There are dead, people are missing, and many are still in danger. We have never seen a catastrophe like this, this is horrible," said the governor of the province of Rhineland-Palatinate, Malu Dreyer.

During her visit to Washington, Chancellor Angela Merkel said that Thursday was marked by fear, despair, suffering, and hundreds of thousands of people were suddenly faced with a catastrophe. “I express my condolences to all those who lost loved ones in the disaster, and I wholeheartedly stand by those who care about the fates of people listed as missing,” she said, adding that many people in Luxembourg and the Netherlands also suffer.

In Belgium, the number of deaths due to the floods has risen to nine, the "Guardian" reported, writing the Belgian news agency Belga.