Heavy rains triggered flash floods in the mountains above France’s southern Cote d’Azur region, killing at least 15 people, a local official said yesterday.
Another 12 people were still missing, officials in the Var region said.
The rains on Tuesday caused water levels to rise swiftly by several meters, which prevented many people from fleeing to higher ground and forcing some to seek shelter on the roofs of their houses.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Overnight, rescue workers concentrated on helping hundreds of people trapped in their vehicles, houses or on rooftops, the secretary general for the Var region, Olivier de Mazieres said.
Helicopters had already airlifted some people to safety, de Mazieres added.
There were deaths in the towns of Arcs, Draguignan, Luc, Muy and Roquebrune-sur-Argens, an official said.
On Tuesday, emergency services had to let the body of a woman float away because the currents were too strong to attempt a recovery.
A spokesman for Interior Minister Brice Hortefeux said he was due to visit the region late yesterday.
“We haven’t seen anything like this in a decade,” said the top official for the Var department, Hugues Parant, noting that 180mm of rain had fallen within 12 hours.
“In a few minutes the water rose by 50, then 60 centimeters,” said one reporter caught in the flooding at Draguignan.
“And it is up to 2 meters,” the reporter added.
Such was the extent of the flooding that empty vehicles, cars and trucks alike, were floating down the street.
The rising water also trapped a high speed train traveling from the southern city of Nice to Lille in the north at Luc with 300 passengers on board.
More than a thousand people were involved in the rescue operations, including hundreds drafted in from other regions.
About 175,000 homes in the region are without electricity.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy sent condolences to residents and thanked emergency response personnel.
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