Sharjah24 - AFP: Chancellor Angela Merkel said Sunday she was horrified by the "surreal" devastation in the flood-ravaged region of western Germany, as the death toll in Germany and Belgium passed 190 with dozens of people still missing.
The veteran leader said the world must step up efforts to tackle the climate crisis, as global warming makes extreme weather events more likely.
"We must hurry," she said. "We have to be faster in the fight against climate change."
Wearing hiking boots and offering pandemic-safe fist bumps to rescue workers, Merkel walked through the village of Schuld in Rhineland-Palatinate state, one of the two hardest-hit regions in western Germany.
She listened to the accounts of residents where the swollen Ahr river swept away houses and left debris piled high in the streets.
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