In the southeast of France and northern Italy, rivers flooded and demolished houses or roads after tens to hundreds of millimeters of rainfall fell in a matter of hours. At least a dozen people are still missing, and Italian authorities have registered two lives.
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“An unprecedented catastrophe, an event we haven’t seen in more than a century,” according to franceinfo, Nice Mayor Christian Estrosi said. The area around the center of the Côte d’Azur is the worst affected of the French regions. Heavy rain started there before noon on Friday, and the total precipitation for a ten-hour period then climbed to 500 millimeters.
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The result was a flood wave that tore down bridges and entire houses, cut off power supplies and cut off some villages from the outside world. According to AFP, there were 1,000 firefighters in the field this morning in the French department of Alpes-Maritimes in an effort to repair the damage and secure the missing. Hundreds of rescuers and members of the armed forces are also involved in search operations.
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Similar developments have been reported by several Italian regions, notably the Aosta Valley and Piedmont. According to the ANSA agency, some places recorded record precipitation totals, when in “a few hours” as much rain fell as usual in six months. Material damage is said to climb to tens of millions of euros after the great water destroyed homes and roads.
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According to the latest information, the Italian authorities have already missing only two people, and at the same time registered two dead in connection with the floods. A 53-year-old commander of a volunteer fire brigade was killed in a rescue operation in the Aosta Valley, and a 36-year-old man died in neighboring Piedmont when the flooded Sesia River took away the car in which he was sitting with his brother. He managed to save himself.
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The heads of some of the affected regions declared a state of disaster due to the natural disaster, pointing to “enormous damage”. Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte announced that his government was paying “maximum attention” to the situation.
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