Germany floods: Merkel pledges support for victims

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has pledged full support for the victims of some of the country’s worst flooding in decades.
Record rainfall in western Europe caused rivers to burst their banks, devastating the region.
At least 59 people have died in Germany with hundreds more reported missing.
Belgium has also reported at least 11 dead after the extreme weather, which politicians have blamed on climate change.
Experts say that climate change is expected to increase the frequency of extreme weather events, but linking any single event to global warming is complicated.
Speaking during a meeting with US President Joe Biden in Washington DC, Mrs Merkel expressed her “deepest condolences” to everyone across the region who had lost loved ones after “a day of worry and despair”.
“I fear we will only see the full extent of this tragedy in the coming days,” she said. She also pledged government support with rescue efforts and with reconstruction, saying to the German people that the government “will not leave you alone in this difficult, terrible hour”.
The German states of Rhineland-Palatinate and North Rhine-Westphalia were worst hit, but Belgium and the Netherlands are also badly affected, with further flooding in Luxembourg and Switzerland.
More heavy rain is forecast across the region on Friday.