The death toll from devastating flooding in western Europe climbed to over 100 on Friday, as buildings continued to crumble under the force of raging torrents unleashed by storms that parked over the region for days. As CBS News correspondent Imtiaz Tyab reports, the scale of the disaster is unlike anything the area has seen in living memory.
Entire neighborhoods lay in ruins after days of heavy rains — the worst deluge recorded in the region in more than 200 years. The downpour sparked flash flooding across huge swathes of western Germany and several neighboring nations.
Water spilled over the banks of rivers and turned roadways into torrents so powerful that they crushed much of what stood in their way.
By Friday afternoon the death toll in Germany alone stood above 100, with fatalities in neighboring countries making the total death toll more than 125, according to authorities.
CBS News' Anna Noryskiewicz in Berlin said thousands of residents in Germany's North Rhine-Westphalia and Rhineland-Palatinate states had been forced to evacuate their homes, while 165,000 were left without electricity.
As the floodwaters started to recede on Friday, thousands of rescue workers, including 850 German soldiers, were taking part in the salvage operation. The full extent of the damage remained unclear as teams started to access entire towns that had been cut off by the floodwaters.
In the once quiet and picturesque village of Schuld, one shocked resident looking over the debris left behind called it "unreal."
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