At least 70 people have died in Germany and Belgium after rivers overflowed their banks due to record rains, the BBC reports. 

Most of the victims were in Germany, 11 people died in Belgium. More than 1,000 people in Germany go missing.

The German states of Rhineland-Palatinate and North Rhine-Westphalia were most affected, but the Netherlands was also severely affected. Heavy rainfall is forecast for the region on Friday.

Armin Laschet, the prime minister of North Rhine-Westphalia, blamed extreme weather on global warming during a visit to the heavily affected area.

Experts say climate change is expected to increase the frequency of extreme weather events, but linking any single event to global warming is difficult.

In Germany, helicopters and hundreds of soldiers have been deployed to affected areas to help people in distress. Dozens of people were waiting for rescue on the rooftops. Schools have been closed in the west of the country and transport links have been severely disrupted.

According to German broadcaster SWR, about 25 houses are in danger of collapsing in the Schuld bei Adenau area of ​​the Eifel mountainous region, where a state of emergency has been declared.

Dramatic footage of flooding in Belgium shows water sweeping cars off the road along a street in Verviers.

Residents of Liege, Belgium's third-largest city after Brussels and Antwerp, were ordered to evacuate. Those who cannot get out should move to the top floors of their homes, local officials said. The Meuse River, which flows through the city, is expected to rise another 1.5 meters, despite the fact that it is already on the verge of a spill. Officials are also concerned that a bridge over a dam in the area could collapse.

Residents of the Belgian town of Pepinster, which lies at the confluence of two rivers in the province of Liege, have been evacuated, but conditions in Troos municipality are so bad that evacuation efforts have been put on hold.

No casualties have been reported in the Netherlands, but thousands of people in towns and villages along the Meuse have been urged to leave their homes as soon as possible.

In the Dutch city of Maastricht, 10,000 people were ordered to evacuate.

Flooding in Valkenburg, near the Belgian and German borders, swept the city center and forced the evacuation of several nursing homes.