Brussels: Sirens arranged to lamentation before the streets fell silent on Tuesday in Belgium when the country held a day of mourning for the victims of Dahsyat floods that left nearly 200 dead people in Western Europe.
Heavy rain last week sent flood water torrents sweeping the city and village, mostly in Germany and Belgium in the worst flood in memory of life.
At least 31 was killed in Belgium, with dozens of still missing or irresponsible, while in Germany 165 was killed and the rescue still explored the victims.
The lost amount in Belgium has fallen for the last two days because telephone contact was re-established and more people were tracked.
Cleaning is still ongoing to help the regions that are restored from the destruction scene that see dozens of houses collapse and the car piles up on top of each other.
The waters have subsided since Friday but workers and volunteers face the duties of Mammoth to clean the detritus and help local residents rebuild their lives destroyed.
Belgium, Raja Philippe and Prime Minister Alexander De Croo will visit the city of Verviers who were destroyed for official homage ceremonies before emergency workers rang their sirens and national minutes of silence were held at noon.
Buses, trams, and trains will stop at Brussels and country athletes who prepare the Olympics in Japan will mark this moment.
Tricolor Belgium has been flown with half a pole in the official building, such as the European Star-Spangled flag around the block base in the capital.
The day of mourning came ahead of the Belgian national holiday on Wednesday – but the event was set to become a Sombre because the country was still rolling from the flood.
In a German neighboring country, Chancellor Angela Merkel was because she met with flood victims who were still struggling to make peace with losses.
The number of missing people is still unclear, especially because the communication network is disrupted.
When the flood disaster scale became clearer, the question was installed in Germany about whether it was enough to warn the previous residents.
The German government on Monday promised to improve the underground warning system in the country as a spokesperson that the tragedy had shown authorities “need to do more and better”.
Although meteorological services have expected heavy rain and flash floods, many residents said they were caught red-handed by the waters that rose quickly.
The disaster has catapulted climate change to the top of the agenda in Germany, ahead of September polls which will mark the 16th final in power of Merkel.