Great devastation in Belgium: ‘People are very shocked’

The devastation was enormous in villages and small towns such as Pepinster, Verviers, and Troes. Cars are piled on top of each other and large amounts of debris have accumulated under bridges and at beaches.

The rain stopped and the water started to sink. Everything is destroyed and people are very shocked, says SVT reporter Åsa Welander at Pepinster.

Dozens of houses in Pepinster have collapsed in whole or in part by the floods, but the city’s most urgent situation is over.

—Now it’s about getting rid of the water so you can reach parts of the city at all, says Osa Wellander.

National day of mourning

The state of acute crisis is still mainly over in Belgium, where meteorologists are now forecasting a week without rain. In the city of Liège, the Meuse still rises dangerously high. At the same time, water levels remain high in other parts of the country, such as the Wavre region, just 20 km east of Brussels. There, the waters from the river La Dale now flowed into the central parts of the city.

At least 23 people were killed in the floods and many are still missing. Belgian Prime Minister Alexandre de Croo announced that a national day of mourning has been declared for Tuesday, the day before Belgium’s National Day.

– An opportunity to meet after the heavy events, but also to pay tribute to the solidarity and community expressed by the people, says de Croo at a press conference in Brussels, according to Le Soir newspaper.