Read news from:
Austria
SHARE
COPY LINK

WEATHER

German chancellor candidate Laschet sparks anger with flood zone laughter

German chancellor candidate Armin Laschet, the frontrunner in the race to succeed Angela Merkel, sparked outrage Saturday after he was caught on camera laughing during a visit to a flood-ravaged town.

Published: 17 July 2021 19:37 CEST
German chancellor candidate Laschet sparks anger with flood zone laughter
North Rhine-Westphalia state premier Armin Laschet in Erftstadt on Saturday. Photo: picture alliance/dpa | Oliver Berg

The footage shows Laschet chatting and joking with several people in the background while President Frank-Walter Steinmeier gives a statement to public television expressing sympathy for flood victims in the hard-hit town of Erftstadt.

At one point in the widely shared clip, Laschet bursts out laughing for several seconds.

“Laschet laughs while the country cries,” the best-selling Bild daily said on its website.

Commentators and politicians were quick to condemn Laschet on social media.

READ ALSO: More than 140 dead in German flood disaster 

“I’m speechless,” tweeted Lars Klingbeil, secretary general of the centre-left Social Democrats, who govern together with Merkel and Laschet’s
conservative CDU/CSU bloc.

“This is all apparently a big joke to (Laschet),” wrote Maximilian Reimers from the far-left Die Linke opposition party. “How could he be a chancellor?”

There was no immediate comment from Laschet’s spokespeople contacted by AFP.

The controversy comes just days after Laschet was widely panned for admonishing a female reporter and calling her “young lady” during a tense back and forth about the link between the deadly floods and climate change.

“Excuse me, young lady, you don’t change policies just because of one day like this,” said Laschet, who is the premier of North-Rhine Westphalia state
(NRW), one of the two German regions hit hardest by the worst flooding in living memory.

Germany has counted more than 140 lives lost since Wednesday, while neighbouring Luxembourg, Belgium and the Netherlands have also been affected by the heavy storms.

Erftstadt in NRW has seen some of the worst devastation after the extreme rainfall triggered a landslide in the town, destroying several houses and streets.

“I grew up in Erftstadt,” tweeted Olav Waschkies. “The behaviour of our state premier is unacceptable and unforgivable.”

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.
Become a Member to leave a comment.

WEATHER

More rain forecast as storms hit western Germany

Severe storms and heavy rain affected parts of Germany on Thursday, creating disruptions. More rain is forecast on Friday but weather warnings have been lifted.

Published: 3 May 2024 09:53 CEST
More rain forecast as storms hit western Germany

Major storms hit western Germany on Thursday, causing travel disruption and flooding. 

In parts of Baden-Württemberg, streets were flooded and rivers swelled. Bisingen, southwest of Tübingen, was particularly hard hit, with cellars and streets plunged under water.

Police said there was also traffic disruption. In Baden-Württemberg’s state capital Stuttgart, severe storms and lightning caused issues and some roads were closed.

A lightning strike in the Sigmaringen area resulted in a broken signal box on the railway line. According to Deutsche Bahn, no train journeys were possible in the region in the early evening with several delays and cancellations.

Other states were also affected.

There were around 300 relief operations in the Ahrweiler district in Rhineland-Palatinate, which was hit by the 2021 deadly flood disaster.

Police said no-on was injured, although basements and streets were flooded. The water levels of the Ahr were being closely monitored.

Emergency services in Bisingen on Thursday.

Emergency services in Bisingen on Thursday. Photo: picture alliance/dpa | Silas Stein

In Trier, too, streets were flooded after heavy rain and there were hailstorms. The Koblenz police headquarters reported fallen trees. Significant property damage due to full cellars and flooded streets was also reported in some areas. 

Heavy showers also fell in Hesse, accompanied by thunder storms. In Frankfurt, according to the fire department, the heavy rain caused water to enter the Bethanien Hospital and even reach the intensive care unit of the clinic.

“We were able to contain the damage relatively quickly and prevent it from spreading,” said fire department spokesman Thorben Schemmel, adding that no patients were affected.

In Rhineland-Palatinate, the Eifel region was particularly affected, with reports of flooded streets after heavy rain and hailstorms.

North Rhine-Westphalia also saw storms late in the afternoon on Thursday. 

The German Weather Service (DWD) said it expected some heavy rain and hail in parts of the country on Friday – particularly in the west – and at the weekend but warnings of severe weather have been lifted. 

The DWD said there could still be one or two strong thunderstorms in the northeast on Friday. However, it will be a significantly quieter day compared to Thursday. Temperatures of up to 25C can be expected.

SHOW COMMENTS