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FRANCE – Rescue services stepped up their search efforts in southwestern France on Sunday after floods sliced through several villages and killed two people in Italy, and eight remain missing in France.
Breil-sur-Roya, a French town near the Italian border, was the scene of devastation with houses buried in the mud and overturned cars stuck in the riverbed, an AFP journalist said.
READ: Gauteng floods kill three
Eight people remained missing on the French side of the border after storms, torrential rains and flash floods hit the area, razing roads and houses, isolating entire villages and causing landslides.
Rescue efforts were concentrated in the Roya Valley, where around 1,000 firefighters backed by helicopters and army units resumed their search in hopes of finding survivors and providing assistance to people whose homes were destroyed or inaccessible.
Storm Alex slammed over the west coast of France on Thursday bringing strong winds and rain across the country before moving into Italy, where northern regions came under attack on Saturday.
“What we are going through is extraordinary,” said the prefect of the Alpes-Maritimes region, Bernard González.
“We are used to seeing images of this type of disaster on other continents, sometimes carelessly, but this here is something that affects us all,” he told AFP.
France has declared the region a natural disaster area.
Local authorities sheltered about 200 people overnight, as food and thousands of bottles of water were airlifted to remote villages cut off by the storms.
González asked the families of the disappeared people not to lose hope.
“Just because their loved ones were unable to get in touch doesn’t mean the storm took them away,” he said.
WATCH: Floods in Gauteng as heavy downpours continue
Many fixed line services and some mobile phones were interrupted, and some villages used satellite phones to communicate with rescue services.
Despite forecasts of more rain, rescue efforts would continue throughout Sunday, Gonzalez said.
“The helicopter procession will continue throughout the day,” he said, adding that the prospect of more bad weather was “a concern.”
On the Italian side of the border, several villages were also isolated and many roads blocked, AFP journalists said.
