German Chancellor Merkel: Situation in Waterlogged Regions "Surreal" and "Terrifying"

The chancellor said the government will provide financial aid as soon as possible and pledged to consider climate issues more urgently.

German chancellor Angela Merkel said during the visit to a flood-afflicted region of Germany on 18 July that the situation is "surreal" and "horrifying", adding that the government will consider climate issues more urgently.

"Germany is a strong country and we will stand up to the forces of nature in the short term but also in the medium- and long term by shaping a policy that will take the nature and climate more into consideration than we did in recent years," the chancellor said.

She also noted that authorities will provide financial aid to the victims of disastrous floods fast.

According to the chancellor, the government will meet on 21 July to put together a relief aid package for the flood-hit areas.

"It is shocking. I can almost say that the German language doesn't have words for the destruction that's been wreaked," she was quoted as saying.

At least 156 people have died in Germany since Tuesday after catastrophic floods blamed on global warming swept the country’s western states of North Rhine-Westphalia and Rhineland-Palatinate.