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After the severe floods in France and Italy, there are numerous missing people, including four Germans. A firefighter was killed in action in Italy. Various places are cut off from the outside world.
After thunderstorms with heavy rain and flooding, a total of about 20 people are missing in southern France and northwestern Italy. Numerous houses in the interior of the French Côte d’Azur and in the Italian region of Piedmont were uprooted by bodies of water and villages were cut off from the outside world.
At least eight people missing in the Nice region
The region around Nice, the metropolis of the French Riviera, especially the mountainous interior, is seriously affected. According to media reports, at least eight people are missing there. Among them are two firefighters whose vehicle was washed away by flooding during a deployment on Friday night, Franceinfo news channel reported, citing authorities. Ten other people are believed to be missing, the fire department announced.
“We are facing a disaster that I have never seen in the Alpes-Maritimes (department),” Nice Mayor Christian Estrosi said. According to the media, the conservative politician announced that the army should be deployed. About 100 houses were destroyed or damaged in the region, Estrosi said.
“Horror scenes”
Eric Ciotti MEP spoke of “horror scenes”. His hometown of Saint-Martin-Vésubie in the mountains north of Nice was partially destroyed. According to the media, the town’s cemetery was uprooted. Dozens of people were rescued from the floods, according to the fire department.
Many highways in the region with deeply cut mountain valleys were no longer passable and all train stations are closed. The villages were cut off from the outside world. Around 13,500 households in the region were without electricity. About 850 firefighters are on duty.
Crisis meeting in Paris
Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin promised to send additional helicopters and firefighters after an emergency meeting. Prime Minister Jean Castex says he wants to travel to the affected department with Darmanin as soon as circumstances allow.
French President Emmanuel Macron expressed his condolences to the people who were hit by the storm via Twitter: “Together we will pass this test.”
So far eleven missing and one dead in Italy
There were also storms in Italy. At least 21 people are missing in the border area between Italy and France, including four Germans, Italian civil protection said. In the Piedmont region of northern Italy alone, the authorities reported the disappearance of eleven people.
In Valle d’Aosta, some places were temporarily cut off from traffic after landslides and bridge damage. There have been hundreds of emergency operations in the Italian storm areas since Friday night. A 53-year-old firefighter died. The tunnels were flooded with water and roads had to be closed. The Piedmontese province of Cuneo was particularly affected.
Various regions affected
Damage was also reported in Liguria. In Ventimiglia, on the border with France, Mayor Gaetano Scullino said in view of the flooding: “There has been no such disaster since 1958.”
There were heavy rains and floods on Saturday night in the Italian regions of Lombardy and Veneto. In Venice, the new Mose flood protection system was raised, as the Ansa news agency wrote.
By Saturday morning, the weather on the French border in northwestern Italy had calmed down a bit.
