At least three people have lost their lives as a result of powerful storms and floods that hit southern France, causing major material damage, power outages and serious disruption to transport and telecommunications.
The victims were confirmed on Wednesday evening, October 21, by local authorities in the Bouches-du-Rhône department, where hundreds of residents were forced to leave their homes due to the risk of flooding.
According to the French newspaper “La Provence”, two women, aged 86 and 26, were found drowned in a basement in the commune of Lançon-Provence, where flood water had entered.
The third victim was a 75-year-old man, who was swept away by the strong currents of water in the Saint-Mitre-le-Rébard area. His body was later found in the neighbouring commune of Istres.
Hundreds of residents leave their homes, major damage to infrastructure
The floods forced around 250 people to take temporary shelter in emergency centres in the cities of Arles and Saint-Martin-de-Crau, as staying in their homes had become dangerous.
Heavy rainfall caused flooding of roads, damage to road and rail infrastructure, and disruption to transport services. Thousands of households were left without electricity, while telecommunications problems made communication difficult in the affected areas.
More than 700 firefighters were deployed to deal with the situation, carrying out hundreds of rescue operations, pumping water out of buildings and intervening in the most at-risk areas. The most serious situation was recorded in the western part of the department, where torrential rain flooded inhabited areas and forced authorities to close several roads.
The floods in France follow extreme weather that also hit eastern Spain, where storm Adam caused five deaths in the preceding days.
The successive bad weather events have caused flooding and considerable damage in several areas of the western Mediterranean, putting emergency services and residents of the affected areas under strain.
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