Chancellor Angela Merkel said Thursday she was "shocked" by the devastation wreaked by deadly flooding in western Germany.
"I am shocked by the disaster that so many people in flooded areas are suffering from," Merkel said in a statement tweeted by her spokesman Steffen Seibert.
More than 20 people died due to heavy rains and floods lashing western Germany on Thursday.
Rresidents in nearby Erkrath were warned not to shower or use their washers as the rain had overloaded the local sewage system.
In Duesseldorf, city authorities called on residents in the city’s Grafenberg district to leave their homes Wednesday because of potential flooding.
Meanwhile, Rhineland-Palatinate and North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) states were the worst hit by the unusually heavy rainfall, which has caused rivers to burst their banks and threatens to bring down more homes.
"We have never seen such a catastrophe, it is truly devastating," Rhineland-Palatinate premier Malu Dreyer told state lawmakers.
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