Survivors Recall Escape, Ponder Future After Europe’s Floods

Survivors Recall Escape, Ponder Future After Europe’s Floods
Wiel de Bie, 75, stands outside his flooded home in the town of Brommelen, Netherlands, Saturday, July 17, 2021. Bram Janssen/AP Photo
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PEPINSTER, Belgium—Paul and Madeline Brasseur were at home with their two sons in the Belgian town of Pepinster when the water “came all of a sudden” late in the evening.

It “was like a tsunami,” the way it entered the house and kept rising instead of retreating, said Paul Brasseur, 42.