Death toll from floods in western Germany rises to 45

Berlin [Germany], July 16 (ANI/Sputnik): The death toll from floods caused by heavy rains in the western German states of Rhineland-Palatinate and North Rhine-Westphalia rose to 45, media reported.
Twenty people have lost their lives in Cologne area, according to police estimates seen by Die Welt daily. At least 19 people have died in Ahrweiler district in Rhineland-Palatinate.
Roger Lewentz, the interior minister of Rhineland-Palatinate, said between 50 and 70 people were missing.
Rhineland-Palatinate premier Malu Dreyer said her administration agreed to unlock 50 million euros ($59 million) in emergency funding after calling it "a very bad day" for the entire region.
The latest grueling find was the bodies of two people aged 74 and 78 who were discovered in a flooded cellar in the town of Geilenkirchen on the Wurm river in North Rhine-Westphalia, the Focus online news magazine said.
A mass evacuation was announced in the Rhein-Sieg-Kreis district in North Rhine-Westphalia over fears that a dam on the Steinbach river could overflow its banks. The German news agency dpa said some 1,500 people were due to be evacuated.
Valentina Matviyenko, the speaker of the Russian parliament's upper house, expressed her "deep sympathy" over the tragic aftermath of flooding, in a message addressed to her German counterpart, Bundesrat's Reiner Haseloff. (ANI/Sputnik)