Dams on brink as death toll mounts

FATALITIES in the floods that ravaged Western Europe rose to 168 yesterday as rescuers searched for survivors.

- KAREN ROCKETT

Hundreds of people are still missing in Germany and Belgium. Dams and dykes are under serious threat of breaking in the worst natural disaster to hit the region in half a century.

Scientists blamed climate change as three months’ worth of rain fell in two days over Germany, Belgium, parts of Holland and Northern France.

People have been warned that further danger remains imminent, with dykes along one river from Belgium to the Netherlands at risk of collapse.