At least six people have died and dozens more are missing after floods in Germany swept away cars and caused houses to collapse.
Police said on Thursday that four civilians were dead and 30 missing around the wine-growing hub of Ahrweiler, south of Bonn, after the Ahr river burst its banks, bringing down the houses.
The deaths were reported in the Ahrweiler district, which is a region on the Ahr river that flows into the Rhine.
Around 50 people were left stranded on roofs, and more houses were at risk of being swept into the dangerous streams.
"There are many places where fire brigades and rescue workers have been deployed. We don't yet have a very precise picture because rescue measures are continuing," a police spokesperson said.
Police said that two firefighters died in the Sauerland region, northeast of Bonn, on Wednesday while trying to help others.
The news agency DPA said one had drowned and a second had collapsed after a rescue operation.
Hagen city in Rhine-Westphalia declared a state of emergency after the Volme river breached its bank.
The city's crisis team issued an alert warning that the waters would reach levels seen just four times a century in the coming hours.
Broadcaster SWR has said that 25 more houses are in danger of collapsing in the district of Schuld bei Adenau in the Eiffel region.
“We currently have an unclear number of people on roofs who need to be rescued,” a spokesperson for the Koblenz police told Reuters.
“There are many places where fire brigades and rescue workers have been deployed. We do not yet have a very precise picture because rescue measures are continuing,” the spokesperson added.
Those who lived in homes near the river were urged to move to higher ground immediately, public broadcaster WDR reported.
Homes have been evacuated in areas within a 50-metre radius of the Ahr river.
“Many people have been reported missing to us,” officers added.
The devastation follows an extreme weather warning that was issued by the German Weather Service for parts of three western states.
The freak floods have been described as a once-in-25-years occurrence.
More heavy rain was due in southwestern Germany, on the upper reaches of the German Rhine, on Thursday and Friday, the German Weather Service said.
A continuous downpour is expected until tomorrow evening.
"We see this kind of situation only in winter ordinarily," Bernd Mehlig, an environment official from North Rhine-Westphalia, the most affected region, told WDR.
"Something like this, with this intensity, is completely unusual in summer."
