Belgium fell silent for a minute of remembrance Tuesday as it held a day of mourning for the victims of the devastating floods that left 200 dead in western Europe.

Heavy rains last week sent floodwaters sweeping through towns and villages, mostly in Belgium and Germany, where Chancellor Angela Merkel visited victims in one of the hardest-hit areas.

At least 31 people were killed in Belgium, with dozens still missing or unaccountable, while Germany on Tuesday increased its death toll to 169 as rescuers scoured the rubble for victims.

The number of missing in Belgium has fallen over the past two days as telephone contact is re-established and more people are traced.

The clean-up is still under way to help the regions hit hardest recover from the destruction that saw dozens of homes collapsed and cars piled on top of each other.

Waters have subsided since Friday but workers and volunteers face a mammoth task to clear away the detritus and help local residents rebuild their shattered lives.

Belgium's King Philippe and Queen Mathilde paid their respects at the fire station in Verviers, one of the hardest-hit towns.

The moment of silence took place after sirens sounded in fire stations across the country, with buses, trams and metro trains halted in Brussels.

The Belgian tricolour was flown at half-mast on official buildings, as was the star-spangled flag of the European Union around the bloc's headquarters in the capital.

The commemorations were held on the eve of Belgium's national holiday. The city of Brussels has cancelled its "National Ball" and the city of Namur, capital of Wallonia, has cancelled its fireworks display.

This is the first time since 2016 that Belgium has observed a national mourning when three days were declared following the March 22 attacks claimed by the Islamic State group, which killed 32 people and injured more than 340 in Brussels.

– 'Speechless' –

In neighbouring Germany, Chancellor Angela Merkel met victims of the deluge still struggling to come to terms with the losses in the ravaged medieval town of Bad Munstereifel.

The damage is "appalling… Many houses are no longer habitable," she said, describing "people who have lost everything".

The city has been "so badly hit that it really leaves you speechless".

She was accompanied by Armin Laschet, the regional head and pick from Merkel's CDU party to replace her as chancellor at elections in September.

The number of people missing in the country remains unclear, mainly because of disrupted communication networks.

As the scale of the flood disaster became clearer, questions mounted in Germany about whether enough was done to warn residents ahead of time.

The German government on Monday pledged to improve the country's under-fire warning systems as a spokeswoman admitted that the tragedy had shown authorities "need to do more and better".

Although meteorological services had forecast torrential rain and flash floods, many residents said they were caught off-guard by rapidly rising waters.

The disaster has catapulted climate change to the top of the agenda in Germany, ahead of the September polls that will mark the end of Merkel's 16 years in power.

German flood survivors face uncertain future
Dernau, Allemagne (AFP) July 20, 2021 –

When floods tore through the German village of Dernau last week, 39-year-old mother Carina Dewald lost everything.

The petrol station where she worked as a manager with her husband was razed to the ground, and her house was left uninhabitable as waters from the river Ahr rose to the window ledges on the first floor.

"I think we'll be able to go back to our house, but right now I'm taking each day as it comes," she told AFP amid the piles of rubble that used to be her street.

In the meantime, "I am technically homeless and unemployed," she said.

Dewald is one of thousands of people whose lives have been torn apart by severe flooding in Germany's Rhineland-Palatinate and North Rhine-Westphalia regions.

She and her family are now living in a nearby apartment provided by her father-in-law, spared by the floods but still without water or electricity.

The people of Dernau, a village of 1,800 residents nestled in the wine-growing hills of the Ahrweiler region, fear it could be months before life starts to return to normal.

Roads have been torn up and bridges destroyed, with some parts of the valley only accessible by air.

"The village will not recover," said one vineyard owner after losing an entire cellar full of wine.

Peter Schnitzler, 55, the manager and head chef of a local family-run hotel, is also fearful about the future. "I don't think I'll be able to reopen the hotel," he said.

– Volunteer effort –

With shops destroyed and cars swept away by the floods, many villagers have had to rely on volunteers to provide basic food, cook hot meals and deliver mattresses, torches and generators.

Stage technician Timo Tillmann, 31, drove 250 kilometres (155 miles) from Osnabreuck to Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler and has been touring the town with a van full of rice, pasta, plastic cutlery, T-shirts, toothpaste and diapers picked up from a nearby warehouse.

"Do you have anything sweet?" asks a young woman, visibly exhausted, her clothes smeared with mud.

The nearby Nuerburgring racetrack has become a makeshift aid centre the size of three football pitches storing donated clothes, toiletries and food.

The THW federal volunteer agency has set up a water purification plant in the car park of a hospital, pumping out 30,000 litres (6,600 gallons) of drinking water per hour.

With some growing desperate, police in Koblenz had warned residents on Monday to "not use the water from the Ahr as drinking water or for washing clothes".