Photos: Floodwaters sweep through western Europe

A man looks over a pile of debris in Bad Muenstereifel, Germany, on July 19, 2021.

Torrential rain last week led to severe flooding and destruction across western Europe, wreaking havoc in parts of Belgium and the Netherlands and leaving Germany reeling from its worst natural disaster in decades.

Two brothers weep in each other's arms in front of their parents' house, which was destroyed by the flood in Altenahr, Germany, on July 19. 

Residents cross a flooded area between Bergen and Nieuw Bergen, Netherlands, on a shuttle service operated by the Dutch army, on July 19. 

A resident walks in a street full of debris and mud in the city of Dernau, western Germany, on July 18. 

Rescue workers scrambled on July 17 to find survivors and victims of the devastation wreaked by the worst floods to hit western Europe in living memory, which have already left more than 150 people dead and dozens more missing.

Workers assess the damage during a cleanup operation in Schuld, western Germany, on July 17.

A young resident helps clean-up outside his home in the town of Rochefort, Belgium.

Ulrich Schnelleckes sit in his bedroom, which was completely destroyed in Bad Neuenahr, Germany.

Wiel de Bie, 75, stands outside his flooded home in the town of Brommelen, Netherlands.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen visits a site affected by floods, following heavy rainfalls, in Pepinster, Belgium.

Submerged cars and other vehicles in Erftstadt, western Germany, on July 17. 

Driftwood and debris is seen along the banks of the river Ahr in Altenahr, western Germany.

Soldiers of the German armed forces search for victims in submerged vehicles on the federal highway in Erftstadt, western Germany.

People walk through the debris in the pedestrian zone in Bad Muenstereifel, western Germany, on Friday, July 16, 2021.

A British red telephone box in the flooded pedestrian zone of Bad Muenstereifel on Friday.

As officials assessed the damage, the devastation appeared to have exceeded that caused by disastrous flooding in eastern Germany almost 20 years ago.

A man takes pictures of the devastated area in Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler, western Germany, on Friday.

The death toll in Germany is the highest of any natural catastrophe since a deadly North Sea flood in 1962 that killed around 340 people.

A man rows a boat down a residential street after flooding in Angleur, Liege province, Belgium, on Friday.

Debris hangs on a damaged bridge Friday over the Ahr River in Schuld, Germany.

The flooded camping site Jachthaven Hatenboer on Friday in Roermond, Netherlands.

A woman is carried through a flooded street Friday in Angleur, Belgium. 

A woman looks at cars and rubble piled up in a street Friday in Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler, western Germany. 

A couple hug as they stand amid debris in Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler, Germany, on Thursday.

People use rubber rafts in floodwaters after the Meuse River broke its banks during heavy flooding in Liege, Belgium, on Thursday. 

Cars piled up at a roundabout Thursday in the Belgian city of Verviers.

A flooded street in Liege, Belgium, on Thursday.

Partially submerged caravans and campers at the camping site of De Hatenboer in Roermond, Netherlands, on Thursday.

Water runs past a house and a car covered in rubble Thursday in Hagen, Germany. 

Two men search the debris of houses destroyed by the floods in Schuld near Bad Neuenahr, Germany, on Thursday.

The Ahr River flows past destroyed houses Thursday in Insul, Germany. 

Firefighters stand on the roof of their vehicle Thursday as they climb into an inundated house in the flooded Ehrang neighborhood in Trier, Germany.

Cars covered debris in Hagen, Germany, on Thursday.

Almost 200 dead, many still missing after floods as Germany counts devastating cost