German minister rejects criticism over flood warnings

Critics have accused Germany’s government of overseeing a ‘systemic failure’ in emergency response to deadly deluges.

German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer has rejected accusations the country’s government failed to sufficiently warn people of last week’s devastating floods as political recriminations over the deadly natural disaster escalated. Deluges have wreaked havoc in parts of Western Europe since last Wednesday, with the German states of Rhineland-Palatinate and North Rhine-Westphalia, as well as parts of Belgium, among the worst-hit. A total of 117 people are now confirmed to have died in Rhineland-Palatinate, with 47 victims in neighbouring North Rhine-Westphalia and one in Bavaria. Many others remain missing.