12:43 p.m. ET, July 16, 2021
Death toll in Germany reaches 105 as hundreds remain missing
From CNN's Schams Elwazer
At least 105 people have died in Germany following
torrential rainfalls that swept through the country, hundreds are still missing, authorities said Friday. The Europe-wide death toll now stands at 125.
The death toll in Rhineland-Palatinate has risen to at least 62, Ulrich Sopart, a police spokesperson in the city of Koblenz, told CNN. ''We fear that the number of fatalities could rise over the next few days.''
Police also say that at least 362 people have been injured. As many as 1,300 people were still unaccounted for – mainly as a result of phone lines being down – but officials now say they expect those numbers to be revised down.
The interior ministry in Germany's most populous state populous state of North-Rhine Westphalia told CNN that the number of at least 43 deaths has not gone up from earlier Friday. Interior Ministry spokesperson Leonie Möllmann said the ministry is not providing numbers on injured or missing people at the moment.
In Belgium, there are conflicting reports regarding the death toll, with officials giving slightly differing numbers but all agreeing that the number is likely to rise.
“Twenty victims are confirmed dead, and 19 people have not been found yet, but clearly this number could grow in the coming hours,” Interior Minister Annelies Verlinden said Friday at a news conference.
Earlier Friday, the acting mayor of Liege Christine Defraigne said at least 22 people had died and that “we are afraid to discover more and more.”
She told Sky News that “we know the coming days are full of grieving.”