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Two people were killed and another 30 went missing after storms hit southern France and northern Italy, with roads and bridges damaged or destroyed and thousands of people without power.
Torrential rains of up to 50 centimeters and strong winds crashed into the border area between the two countries in the latest in a series of heavy storms in recent years.
Storm Alex slammed over the west coast of France bringing strong winds and rain across the country before moving to Italy, where northern regions came under attack yesterday.
Switzerland was also hit with record rains in some areas and heavy gusts, forcing roads and mountains to close.
A volunteer firefighter died in the Aosta Valley in Italy and a man died after his car was washed away by the Sesia River, some 100 kilometers further east.
Eight people were reported missing around the French city of Nice and 22 more in the Italian border areas. Dozens of firefighters were trying to reach an Italian town by train after the road was closed.
In France, the army and hundreds of rescuers have been deployed to search for the missing, including using helicopters to bring aid and evacuate people when possible.
But rescue efforts have been hampered by collapsing sections of roads.
“You can also see some houses that are perched on the void because the river bed has washed away the road,” said a fire department spokesman.
“There must be a room in my house,” said a 29-year-old woman named Jennyfer de Roquebilliere in the southern Alps who returned to her chalet near the Vesubie river on Saturday after being evacuated the day before.
“I lost everything, but we are alive,” he said after discovering what was left of his accommodation owned by his employer, the electric company EDF.
French Prime Minister Jean Castex, who surveyed the damage around Nice by helicopter, said there were eight people officially designated as missing, but many more were out of touch.
“I do not hide from them our deep concern about the final outcome of this episode,” he said, adding that the government had launched its emergency plan for natural disaster management.
“The situation is catastrophic in some communes,” regional legislator Eric Ciotti told AFP.
“We are stunned. We saw how the Vesubie (river) overflowed, everything was swept away, including part of the old iron bridge,” said Serge Franco, a resident of Roquebilliere, about 50 kilometers north of Nice.
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