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Video shows moment neighbors use sledgehammer to break through walls and rescue elderly woman in Belgium floods

Sophia Ankel   

Video shows moment neighbors use sledgehammer to break through walls and rescue elderly woman in Belgium floods
LifeInternational1 min read
  • A dramatic video shows the moment an elderly woman was rescued from her flooded home in Belgium.
  • The woman's neighbors used a sledgehammer to break down a wall to pull her to safety.
  • Belgium and Germany have been hit by historic floods, which have caused more than 150 deaths.

A dramatic video shows the moment neighbors broke down a wall with a sledgehammer to rescue an elderly woman from her flooded home in Verviers, Belgium, on Thursday.

The woman, who was not identified, was trapped in her groundfloor apartment as floodwaters started rising. The video shows one man using a large sledgehammer to break a hole into the wall before pulling her to safety.

Another man comes to his aid and helps carry the woman through the waist-high brown water and towards a staircase.

Read more: America's cities are crumbling, and all politicians can focus on are absurd 'smart-city' plans. But these dystopian ideas will only make people's lives worse.

After she was rescued, the woman was taken to a bed in a higher level of the building where she could rest, NowThis reported.

Watch the full video below:

This week, Belgium and Germany have been hit by devastating flash floods that have already resulted in the deaths of more than 150 people.

Germany has been worst hit as houses collapsed, streets turned into rivers, and people trapped on their roofs had to be rescued by helicopters.

Nearly 900 army personnel have joined rescue workers in Germany as about 1,300 people were still reported missing, the Guardian reported.

In Belgium, the death toll has risen to 23, according to the Associated Press. Belgium Prime Minister Alexander De Croo said in a tweet that he'd mobilized the country's emergency services.

Heavy rainfall continues to batter parts of France, Switzerland, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands over the weekend.

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