Four bodies were found floating in homes in France and Germany on Wednesday in flash floods that left water lapping at the doors of one of the Loire Valley’s most famous chateaux.
Heavy rains lashing parts of France, Germany and Austria cut roads, stranded people on rooftops and forced schools to close their doors, and French weather forecasters warned of more to come.
Three people who had been trapped in a house at Simbach am Inn in southern Germany were found dead, local authorities said, and police warned several other people could be on the ground floor of the building.
Photo: AFP
The body of an 86-year-old woman was found in her flooded house in Souppes-sur-Loing in central France, parts of which have been hit by the worst flooding in more than 100 years.
In France’s Loire Valley, a large expanse of water pooled in front of the 16th century Chateau of Chambord, reflecting the much-visited Renaissance castle’s image.
In one incident in southern Bavaria, emergency services rescued 20 members of a school group when a boat trip on the Regen River ran into trouble with strong currents sparked by a sudden storm, authorities said.
At the French Open — the only major tennis tournament still without protection from the rain — the constant interruptions prompted an outburst from frustrated Spanish player David Ferrer who exclaimed: “I’ve been cheated!”
South of Paris, in the town of Montargis, the deluge turned one street into a canal, forcing locals to don boots to wade through the floodwaters.
Elsewhere, in southern Germany the rains left trucks jackknifed on flooded roads at Simbach am Inn.
Four people died and a dozen were injured in the southern Baden-Wuerttemberg region between Sunday and Monday.
On Bavaria’s southeastern border with Austria, firefighters and other emergency services were dispatched to stricken towns where roads and bridges were cut and some residents had to seek refuge from the waters on rooftops.
“The floods came so quickly that people had to escape to the roofs of their houses,” a spokesman for the Lower Bavaria regional police said, adding that many streets were submerged.
In the town of Triftern, Germany, about 50 children and 25 adults bunked down in their school on Wednesday after being cut off by the waters.
Over the border in Austria, heavy rain lashed the Salzburg region, flooding several roads and forcing several schools to announce closures yesterday.
In Paris, many promenades along the Seine were closed due to the high waters, which the mayor’s office predicted could rise by another meter in the coming days.
Fire services have already made 10,000 call-outs across the country since the rain began on Sunday, authorities said.
Schools were closed and thousands of people were evacuated in central regions because of the flooding, which weather forecaster Meteo France described as “exceptional, worse than the floods of 1910.”
French Prime Minister Manuel Valls was yesterday scheduled to visit Nemours, 80km to the south of Paris, where residents had to be evacuated after the Loing River burst its banks.
“In 60 years of living here I have never seen this,” said Sylvette Gounaud, a shopworker in Nemours, France. “The center of town is totally under water, all the shops are destroyed.”
The neighboring Loiret region, home to the chateau of Chambord, saw the average rainfall of six weeks in just three days.
French media said that thousands have been evacuated as floods continue to threaten homes and businesses across the Paris region.
French authorities said that areas along the Loing River, a tributary of the Seine, had seen waters rise to levels unseen since 1910, when a massive flood swamped Paris.
French iTele broadcaster said 400 firefighters and police were at work in Nemours, France, removing people from flood-hit homes.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese