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The German valley that was swept away: 'The cemeteries gave up their dead'

Two-and-a-half years after western Germany was hit by disastrous flash floods, claiming the lives of over 200 people, residents are exhausted. Reconstruction is progressing too slowly.

Tim Himmes is gradually rebuilding his parents' house in Schuld an der Ahr, after the deadly flooding that hit parts of western Germany in the summer of 2021. "It's like living on a building site. You never finish," says Himmes, 23, indicating concrete slabs he is planning to use to pave the path to the house. Next he will turn his attentions to the barn. He's also getting ready to lay the electricity cables underground. He and his family ran a fairground, before the catastrophe. Right now, they

In 2021, a record-breaking flood swelled rivers in Europe, claiming hundreds of lives and inflicting tens of billions of euros in damage. New research suggests that it might have been possible to anticipate the scale of the disaster and others like it.

Locally surprising floods aren’t so surprising in a continent-wide context.