One Dead, Two Missing as Storms Strike Southern France
TGV high-speed trains were briefly stopped Monday morning between the southeastern cities of Valence, Marseille and Montpellier after a tree fell onto the line causing delays in the area.
"The situation remains very alarming," said a police spokesman in the town of Nimes, north of the Rhone delta.
The situation was particularly worrying around Sommieres, near Nimes, where a seven-meter (23-feet) flood wave was expected in the morning, he said.
The weather forecast was for more heavy rain in the south of France until Monday afternoon.
Eighty percent of country roads in the Gard region, north of Nimes, were flooded and closed to all traffic.
Between 200 and 300 liters of rain per square meter were recorded in Gard in 24 hours, Some 1,100 evacuated people had to be accommodated in 17 reception centers.
The A7 motorway between the nearby cities of Avignon and Orange was closed and the railway station in Orange was flooded.
Police found a body in the Gard village of Fons Sunday. In the same village another person, initially thought to be dead, was still missing Monday after the freak floods, police said.
In the nearby village of Saint-Laurent-des-Arbres another person was also missing.
In the Ardeche region, just north of Gard, more than 400 people were evacuated from six camp sites threatened with flooding, the regional authorities said.
They said water in Ardeche had risen above the four-meter alert level and a crisis unit had been set up.
West of Nimes, a fireman was in critical condition in the Herault region, which was among the worst hit areas. He was rushed to hospital in Montpellier after losing consciousness while attempting to rescue two people trapped in a car by rising floodwater.
Amphibious army vehicles and a helicopter were used to rescue people trapped in cars and homes.
Police in Vaucluse, east of Nimes, were called out more than a hundred times on Sunday evening to deal with flooded basements, garages and homes, AFP reported.