Merkel and Laschet visit flood-hit region

German Chancellor Angela Merkel toured places badly damaged by the floods on Sunday.

Merkel was accompanied by Armin Laschet, the governor of North Rhine-Westphalia state, who is also the centre-right Union bloc’s candidate hoping to succeed Merkel as chancellor in Germany's parliamentary election on September 26. Merkel is not running again for office after almost 16 years as chancellor.

Merkel visited a bridge in Hagen that was destroyed but has been nearly rebuilt and talked to firefighters in the Sauerland region who had lost two colleagues during rescue efforts in July. More than 180 people died in Germany and hundreds more were injured in the July 14-15 floods, which also claimed lives in neighboring Belgium.

Heavy rainfall turned small streams into raging torrents, sweeping away houses, bridges and cars. The German government quickly put into place a roughly 475 million US dollar package of immediate aid for flood victims.

Laschet vowed that his government will take care of the places and people most affected by the floods' damage and promised to help reconstruct kindergartens and schools and get factories ready so that workers can go back to work.