State minister resigns 15 months after west German flooding

Fifteen months after devastating flooding hit parts of western Germany, a minister has been forced to resign in connection with his actions at the time, reported dpa.

Roger Lewentz, the interior minister in Rhineland-Palatinate, announced on Wednesday he would step down from his post.

"Today I take political responsibility for the mistakes made in an area that fell under my responsibility," he said.

He would stay on as caretaker minister for a few days while a successor is found, the state premier Malu Dreyer said.

Lewentz was criticized for an apparently slow reaction to news of the flooding.

Recently released police videos from the night of the disaster on July 14 and the subsequent mission report of the helicopter pilots to the state Interior Ministry indicated that people were already in extreme distress in the floods.

Lewentz had told a committee of enquiry that he did not have a complete picture of the situation on that night.

Opposition parties in the state called for his resignation for not reacting more quickly.

At least 134 people lost their lives in the flash flood that started in the evening in the upper reaches of the Ahr and reached the mouth of the Rhine in the early morning.

In April, family minister Anne Spiegel resigned after criticism of a holiday she took just days after the floods, while she was environment minister in Rhineland-Palatinate.