UPDATE: 42 killed in deadly floods in Germany (photos)

UPDATE: The number of the casualties has reached 42.

During the storms in the northern part of the Rhineland-Palatinate, up to 148 liters of rain per square meter have fallen. “In the middle of summer, this is a ‘new phenomenon'”, said minister Anna Spiegel from the Green Party.

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Twenty people have died and dozens of people are missing in Germany after heavy flooding turned streams and streets into raging torrents, sweeping away cars and causing some buildings to collapse.

Police in the western city of Koblenz said Thursday that four people had died in Ahrweiler county, and about 50 were trapped on the roofs of their houses awaiting rescue.

Six houses had collapsed overnight in the village of Schuld. “Many people have been reported missing to us,” police said.

Schuld is located in the Eifel, a volcanic region of rolling hills and small valleys southwest of Cologne.

The full extent of the damage in the region was still unclear after many villages were cut off by floodwater and landslides that made roads impassable. Videos posted on social media showed cars floating down streets and houses partly collapsed in some places.

Authorities have declared an emergency in the region after days of heavy rainfall that also affected large parts of western and central Germany, as well as neighboring countries, causing widespread damage.