tonight at ten... parts of western europe are devastated by catastrophic flooding, the worst in decades. more than 120 people have died. in germany, torrential rain has laid waste to whole communities. translation: there is nothing you can do. - you can run from fire, but you can't run from water. parts of belgium, luxemburg and the netherlands also battered and under water. the german chancellor, angela merkel, says it's a catastrophe. we'll be live in one of the worst affected areas. also tonight... more than 50,000 new coronavirus infections in a single day in the uk, as the government says it won't be easing restrictions on monday for travellers returning from france. fleeing war under the cover of darkness — a special report

on the ethnic fighting in tigray, ethiopia. and south africa's louis 0osthuizen breaks a championship record to lead on day two of the open. and coming up in the sport on the bbc news channel. spurred on by his home fans, lewis hamilton is fastest in today's first qualifying for the british grand prix. good evening. more than 120 people have died and hundreds are still missing after the worst flooding in parts of western europe for several decades. in germany, emergency crews are searching for dozens who are unaccounted for, with the chancellor, angela merkel, describing the floods as a catastrophe. torrential rain has also devastated parts of belgium, the netherlands and luxembourg.

swollen rivers, including the rhine, the meuse and the ahr, have swept through towns and villages, destroying homes and leaving many stranded. in erftstadt in germany, whole houses have been submerged and a landslide has demolished parts of the town. 0ur correspondentjenny hill has spent the day in erfstadt and is now in the ahr valley. clive, tonight the waters are starting to slowly recede across the region, but the number of dead is expected to continue to rise. today, the german president described what happened and happening is a tragedy which has left him stunned. it's a sentiment which is shared by so many people in this area, not least in the town you mentioned, the town of erftstadt, where emergency workers have been carrying out a search and

rescue operation since last night. the ground just fell away. this is the town of erftstadt, where overnight houses collapsed as the water gushed in. another shock for a country reeling from the enormity of its loss. it happened so fast, one official said, there was no time for a warning. rescuers rushed in, but this morning, the authorities here said people trapped in their homes were calling them for help, and in many cases theyjust couldn't reach them. those who did make it out came to shelters like this. we metjohannes here. he and his wife were winched to safety last night. he arrived barefoot and soaking wet. what were you thinking as they winched you up, i asked. "i had to leave my cat behind," he says. johannes has lived here more than 70 years. there have been floods, he told us, but not like this. translation: you can run from fire, but not from water. _ tens of thousands of people still don't have power. and they're on alert.

water levels have dropped in some areas, but few here feel safe. you can see how powerful the water is here still, and what's worrying people in this area is thatjust upstream there's a dam. experts say it's unstable. they're still inspecting it, but people think if that dam breaks the water is heading in this direction. and with every hour, news of more deaths. people are still missing. with mobile networks down, it's hard to know how many made it to safety. they're desperate for help here. this was a caravan park. how to even begin clearing up? we met the owners, still visibly in shock. translation: indescribable. we've been here since 1979. we've never seen anything like this. if we don't get any help, we'll have to go on benefits. bankrupt. germany, a country famed

for its strength, its security, feels vulnerable now. jenny hill, bbc news, erftstadt. many survivors have spoken of the speed at which water levels rose as the rain came down. and tonight, some towns and villages remain under threat, with thousands of people in the netherlands and belgium urged to leave their homes. 0ur correspondent anna holligan has more details. homes engulfed, whole villages submerged. parts of liege annihilated by the elements. rescuers are still navigating areas to the west, in the town of pepinster. the military was drafted in to assist the stranded on land and by air, and for some it's a desperate wait to find out whether their loved ones made it. translation: my wife | is looking for her mother who lives in a town nearby. we have no means of communication. we don't know where she

is or how she's doing. in nearby verviers, the waters have receded, but they're still stunned by the extent of the destruction. translation: this shop has been open for three years. _ we had to go through renovations. we had to live through covid. we were hoping to get back on ourfeet. and now this. in the netherlands, this was roermond. swathes of the city have disappeared. this region has been declared a disaster zone. these are the remnants of businesses in the spa town of valkenburg. while the emergency services are busy trying to restore power and secure pavements, the people have come together to try to bring some form of order to these devastated streets. while covid kept them isolated and apart, this crisis has caused a community to come out in solidarity. we need to stay positive. we can cry all day, but this

will not help anything, so better smiling, and keep working! the rain has paused, but the threat, here and in towns and cities across europe, isn't over yet. anna holligan, bbc news, valkenburg. some politicians in germany say the extreme weather is the result of global warming, and they're calling for work on climate protection measures to be accelerated. 0ur chief environment correspondent, justin rowlatt, assesses the role of climate change in the record amounts of rainfall now devastating parts of europe. the floods in germany are not the only extreme weather event we have seen this summer. there was the dramatic heatwave in canada and the western united states last month, and russia, mexico and new zealand have all been experiencing unusually high temperatures. now, the climate science is very clear on this, it has been predicting notjust for years, but for decades, that if we continue to pump huge

amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, we will experience increasingly high temperatures, and because warm air holds more moisture, that means heavier rainfall as well and therefore floods. you only have to look at the pictures of these devastating floods to know that we need to do better, and it is not ok for this number of people to die in 2021 from floods. the next obvious question is, is the world doing enough to tackle climate change? again, the answer is very clear. it is not. the un says we need to reduce carbon emissions by 7% every year for the next decade if we're going to stand a reasonable chance of staying within what is reckoned to be the safe limit, 1.5 degrees centigrade. now, we did achieve that last year but in the teeth of the pandemic, so the only good outcome from these recent extreme weather events is if it encourages the world to raise its carbon cutting game,

when it meets at the landmark climate conference in glasgow in november. justin rowlatt, bbc news. the uk has recorded more than 50,000 new coronavirus cases in a single day for the first time since january. it comes as the office for national statistics suggests one in 100 people in the uk has the virus. on monday, the majority of covid restrictions in england are due to be lifted, and some will be eased in scotland. here's our medical editor, fergus walsh. queueing for art and for a vaccine — exclusive access to tate modern�*s galleries this evening was on offer to those getting a jab at this iconic london setting. it's estimated 650,000 people in the uk had covid last week, up around 60% in just seven days. so with restrictions being lifted in england on monday, the race between the virus

in the vaccine is intensifying. i'm a manager of a pub, and i thought with restrictions being lifted soon, it was prudent to get it done now. and, you know, with the facemasks being optional and so forth, ijust thought, to be on the safe side, get the vaccine. in newham, in east london, just over a third of adults are fully immunised, half the uk level. so council teams are going door to door to encourage people to have the jab. hello. how are you? the number of first vaccinations across the uk has halved in the past two weeks as demand from young people starts to falter. yet again, the nhs has appealed to adults to come forward for first and second doses. and that can mean overcoming vaccine hesitancy, especially in the young. i think that social media, people believe very quickly

what they read on whatsapp or other sort of online platforms, and i think it's trying to change that perception. i think by giving human guidance to them, the benefits outweigh the risks. i'm in icu. my lungs collapsed. that was paul godfrey, 18 months ago. he was susceptible to infection, but never imagined the damage covid could do to someone in their early 30s. he's still recovering. it was the worst experience of my life, obviously. i couldn't believe how this virus had ruined my body so quickly and the fight i would have to fight. although older, frail adults are at by far the greatest risk, a new study has found that one in three younger patients hospitalised with covid suffer complications such as kidney, lung and heart damage. it's a reminder that covid can be

indiscriminate in who it targets. fergus walsh, bbc news. the government has announced that, from monday, travellers arriving to england from france will still have to quarantine for ten days at home, even if they're fully vaccinated. that's despite plans to change the quarantine rules for other amber list countries. 0ur political correspondent, jonathan blake, is in westminster. what's prompted this? it's concerning government about the beta variant of coronavirus, also known as the south african variant, and the government is tonight describing a persistent presence of the beta variant in france is the reason behind this change, not enough for france to go onto the red list and the enforced hotel quarantine involved for people coming from those countries, but it will be an exception to the amber list. from monday, fully vaccinated travellers arriving from other countries on the ableist won't need

to isolate but those coming from france will still need to isolate for ten days. it's another tweak to the traffic light system, which isn't quite as simple as the green, amber, red it started as. it will be disruption for people who planned holidays in france, and travel industry leaders tonight accusing the government of a confused approach to international travel. at this point, it shows there is still a good deal of caution in government and uncertainty where international travel is concerned about how the pandemic will pan out from here on. well, the latest coronavirus figures do show infections continuing to rise sharply across the uk. 51,870 new infections were recorded in the latest 24—hour period, taking the average per day in the past week to 39,714. 3,964 people are in hospital with covid and 49 deaths were recorded in the last 2a hours.

more than 46 million people have now had theirfirstjab — that's 87.6% of all uk adults. and 35.5 million people, 67.5% of all adults, have had two jabs. businesses are warning of looming staff shortages, as growing numbers of workers have to self—isolate on being contacted by the nhs covid app. transport unions say things will only get worse next week and are warning of "dire consequences" when most covid restrictions are lifted in england. rule changes making fully vaccinated people exempt from having to quarantine if they've had contact with an infected person aren't due to come into effect until mid—august. downing street says the contact tracing app remains "one of the best tools we have" to tackle coronavirus. with more, here's sarah campbell. the pressure on business is unrelenting. in the last week we had our head of production, he got pinged,

then the guy below him, the manufacturing manager, he got pinged. then the distribution manager got pinged and then the guy who is managing our new tap yard which was due to open on friday, he also got pinged. this brewery should have been welcoming 100 business customers to the opening of a new on—site bar this evening, but with nine members of staff self isolating the event is off and the new bar will remain closed. you start thinking, the numbers are going down, we've got a deadline, we're going to be out of it, it's all going to be fine, but now you're just thrust straight back into it, into the fear of the pinging and the fear of getting coronavirus, having people on—site, all of those things just make our entire industry very, very nervous, although they are all desperate to open because it has been such a financially crippling period. across town, one of the brewery�*s customers, the royal oak pub. it was closed recently for ten days after a staff member tested positive and the rest of the team were pinged to self—isolate. you have ordered stock in, everything is fresh food, as well,

so that will go off, this will happen, you've lost money, all of these things, so it is a concern that if we get pinged today, tomorrow, especially someone from the management team, then it spirals and we have to do the whole thing again. more than half a million people in england and wales alone were pinged by this nhs app in the first week ofjuly, so the impact on business from pubs to major manufacturers has been huge, and if you are not self isolating because of work, you may well be because your child's classroom bubble has burst. at this school in nearby high wycombe, at times a third of staff and almost 300 pupils have been self isolating. this is the most stressful that i think we have all felt and i think the children and their parents have felt that, as well. there's realfatigue, lots of wonderful positive messages out there that we are heading back towards normality, that we have gone to stage four of the road map,

but that is not how it has felt in the last couple of weeks. 140,000 people are expected to watch sunday's grand prix at silverstone, and many more pings seem almost inevitable, but today downing street insisted that the nhs app is doing what it was designed to do and remains one of the best tools available to help tackle coronavirus. sarah campbell, bbc news. in ethiopia, one of the world's poorest nations, there are fears that unrest in the northern tigray region is descending into wider ethnic violence and the threat of all—out civil war. fighting in tigray erupted last year, when ethiopia's central government mounted a military offensive against the region's political leaders and their armed supporters. both sides have been accused of atrocities, and famine in the region is adding to the suffering. more than two million people have fled their homes, many to camps in neighbouring sudan. 0ur africa correspondent, andrew harding, has sent us this report from the border region. three teenage boys emerge from the gloom, trudging their way to safety.

they've escaped from tigray, overnight, across a river and a well guarded border, carrying nothing except stories of spiralling ethnic conflict, in a war that's spreading and threatening a crucial chunk of africa. translation: some armed | soldiers came home to home and they registered their names and they gave us two days to leave, because we are tigrayans. so there's a kind of ethnic cleansing going on in the townjust across the border here? translation: yes, we feel bad, because it's our - country, it's our land. the boys are of fighting age and may soon be needed back in tigray but, for now, they are safe, just across the border, here in sudan. a grim life in this refugee camp beckons. in the makeshift clinic,

one remarkable refugee is looking after thousands. now he is part doctor, part chronicler of tigray�*s latest agonies. thousands of people are being held in camps with no food and no water, and particularly they were being told that they are going to be punished by hunger. punished by hunger? by hunger. starved. word by word. his clinic is overwhelmed, notjust by the flood of new arrivals. a single mother here. but by their stories. so they've killed young men. ijust heard a gun shooting. when ijust turned around, they were dead. they were on the ground. the woman, a bank worker, asks us to hide her identity, other back in ethiopia. so you think the war is just going to go on and on. it's going to go on,

for sure, because we are not giving our land ever. so the blood is going to continue. singing. a refugee sings of her yearning for home, for tigray. it sounds like a lament for ethiopia, too, a nation at risk of unravelling. you get a real sense here that this conflict is far from over. tigrayans have suffered so much in the past few months, through famine and conflict, but they are now talking about a clean break, full independence from ethiopia, a nation they see as cruel and crumbling and, if that means they have to keep fighting for it, then so be it. another young man thrashes his way across the river border out of tigray. better to drown, he says, than to stay behind and be killed by the militias.

watching from the river bank, the refugee doctor. so the idea of a country are starting to disintegrate in your mind?— i don't want to be in the same category with these people that have raped my sisters, that have killed my brothers and sisters, that have destroyed my places, so the idea of being in the same passport, being the same ethiopian is gone. it's gone. the summer storm season is beginning, adding to the anxieties here. i cannot sleep at night, just thinking, what is going happen to the kids? what am i going to do the next day? what am i going to feed them? when i see them, i feel sorry for them. here, then, the cost of a conflict turning neighbour against neighbour, a war lurching towards new perils.

andrew harding, bbc news, on the sudan—ethiopian border. south africa's president, cyril ramaphosa, says the outbreak of violent protests in the country, which has so far cost more than 200 lives, was deliberately planned. the unrest began when the former president, jacob zuma, was jailed for contempt of court during a corruption investigation. there's also widespread anger across south africa over high unemployment and inequality, 27 years after the end of apartheid. the labour leader, sir keir starmer, says he'll "sweat blood over months and years to earn respect" from voters. speaking to the bbc after taking questions from former labour voters in blackpool, he admitted "there is a trust issue" with his party. 0ur political editor, laura kuenssberg, was there. labour's credibility took an awful blow. i got disillusioned cos i think they went too far left. it was a long time. ago i voted labour. labour's washed away in so many

parts of the country the party used to call home, on the beach or in the ballroom. i'm not saying i'm not ready to vote labour again, but i would have some questions. and here is the man whosejob depends on getting them back onside. i'm keir. can i call you sir keir? 0r keir. yeah. there was a plea to stop his party fighting amongst themselves. get rid of all the bickering people. you tell them, "look, are you labour or are you not?" if you're labour, that is my plan and, if not, go, form another party and do what you want. you want to hear one voice. and there was still concern about anti—semitism during jeremy corbyn�*s time in charge. good, decent, compassionate labour people were having to have bodyguards, threatened by other factions of your party. you were on kind of a death spiral. it's the stigma ofjeremy corbyn. 18 months on and it's still there. people think he's toxic.

0njeremy corbyn, we got a verdict in 2019 on him, and that is why we then had a leadership contest and why i know we have to change the labour party. what made you want to lead the labour party? i i want to ensure... we can be a brilliant country. we can be a fantastically brilliant country, and we're not. some still disappointed by tony blair and gordon brown. i would love to believe you but i don't know yet whether i can believe you, so i'd have to take a risk, wouldn't i? that's what i'd have to do. i'd have to take a risk. and i'm up for taking a risk, because i want to be labour. in my heart of hearts, i want to be labour. i and the labour party have to earn your vote. but he had an offerfor them, too. so i've got some strong ideas. jobs for the under—25s, buying british, and a recovery plan for children. you know, words come easy, you know, a recovery plan. but it's like actions speak louder than words. breakfast clubs, free school meals? it's a start.

i the labour thing is to spend a lot. of money but then the conservatives come in and then start cutting back everything to save money. - we are going to have to make choices. to say, if you are going to pay for this, you can't pay for that. ijust think it's all pie in the sky, to be honest. the very clear message from these people here tonight was that they don't trust labour, and you've been in charge for a year and a half now. so have you been continuing to let them down? i think they appreciated that i was having this conversation with them, listening to what they had to say but, you know, these are people not voting labour, so of course there's a trust issue there, and that trust has to be earned, and that i will do, sweat and blood, over the next days, weeks, months and years until the next general election. but did he manage any of that tonight? if you would have voted labour at the beginning of tonight, put your hand up. if you feel now you would vote labour, put your hand up.

if you feel now that you might vote labour, put your hand up. a start, perhaps, in one town on one night, but a conversation labour wants with the whole country. laura kuenssberg, bbc news, blackpool. and you can watch the full version of that interview on the bbc iplayer. south africa's louis 0osthuizen heads the leaderboard after the second day's play at the open championship in kent. his 36—hole total of 129 is the lowest in the history of the open. 0ur sports correspondent, andy swiss, has more. it's the closest most of us will get to the trophy — the 0pen�*s favourite photo op doing a roaring trade. but others here are chasing the real thing. louis 0osthuizen�*s already won it once, 11 years ago. commentator: oh, my word! and after another stunning display, he just might do it again. on a remarkable 11—under par.

but in the sandwich sunshine, he wasn't the only one making hay. this is collin morikawa's debut at the open. as first impressions go, not bad. oh, yes. what a day he's having! he's two shots back, while hopes of a home winner are led by andy sullivan, another impressive day keeping him in contention. announcer: rory mcllroy. cheering. the rory mcilroy fan club was out in force, and they got a few decent moments. but 11 shots back, his hopes look remote. what they'd all have done for a little bit of this. england'sjonathan thompson thrilling the crowd with a hole in one. itjust doesn't get any better. england'sjonathan thompson lighting up his round with a hole in one, the first of the championship. golfjust doesn't get any better. well, it's been a day of glorious weather and some equally glorious golf. but none brighter than louis 0osthuizen�*s.

on this form, he'll take some stopping. hello. some very warm to hot weather on the way for much of the uk this weekend. there is a weak weather front in northern scotland, and that will bring windier conditions, some cloud and the chance of a little rain, and temperatures just into the mid to high teens. in fact, this cloud becomes more extensive across western scotland into northern ireland overnight. some patches of cloud through eastern parts of england as well as temperatures drop into the mid to low teens. so, tomorrow then, eastern and southern scotland seeing some sunny spells. northwest scotland, breezy, cloudy and in places, damp. in northern ireland, a few spots of drizzle early on, but then it brightens up, though some irish sea coasts may hold onto a bit of low cloud. any early cloud across parts of eastern england will clear away. the lion's share of the sunshine will be across england and wales, and this is where we'll see the highest temperatures. light winds for the most part, but notice it is really quite windy across north and northwest scotland. these are average speeds — gusts

will be a bit higher than that. as for temperatures, we could well see 30 degrees in yorkshire on saturday. this is bbc news. the headlines.

at least 120 people have died and hundreds more are unaccounted for after some of the worst flooding in western europe in decades. record rainfall caused rivers to burst their banks. most of those killed were in germany. belgium's prime minister has described the flooding as the most catastrophic his country has ever seen, with at least 20 people dead. a national day of mourning will be held on tuesday. the south africa president says those behind recent violence and looting are seeking to overthrow the government. in a televised address, cyril ramaphosa said south africans would not allow what he called "an assault on democracy". the uk has recorded more than 50,000 new coronavirus cases in a single day, for the first time since january. it comes days before the majority of covid restrictions in england are due to be lifted.