German Bet For Chancellor Hit Over Flood Failures

Armin Laschet, the politician aiming to take over from Chancellor Angela Merkel, came under fire during a visit to the Swisttal region south of Cologne on Monday that was badly hit in the mid-July floods, Jonas-Erik Schmidt and Ulrike Hofsaehs reported for Deutsche Presse-Agentur (dpa).

Photo Insert: CDU/CSU joint candidate for chancellor Armin Laschet's image has been covered deep in mud since having been caught on television laughing in the background during the speech of German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier mourning the Germany flood victims

No help had arrived from the government more than two weeks after torrential rains devastated the region, one man said. Young volunteers had helped him clean up instead, he said.

Referring to the September 26 elections, another talked of "massive losers" and said in Laschet's direction: "You will see when the elections come." An enraged woman asked Laschet, the premier of the state of North Rhine Westphalia, whether he had ever spent a week "digging in mud."

Patrick Richelt, head of a kindergarten, said all the infrastructure in his village had disappeared.

Laschet pledged action more quickly in the future. A big task lay ahead, he said. "We are working at high speed so that there will be decisions at the federal level soon," he said.

The premier has called a special session of the state parliament on August 9 to discuss the disaster. The death toll in the state reached 47. There was also vast damage to property.

The state and federal governments came in for sharp criticism for lack of communication and failure to pass on explicit information from the weather services warning of life-threatening conditions.

On Monday, it was reported that the death toll in the Ahr valley just across the state border with Rhineland Palatinate had reached 138. Twenty-six people are still missing there.

WEEKLY FEATURE : PAL READY TO SOAR WITH PANDEMIC