Fatal flash floods hit France

Eleven people die in France after torrential rains trigger flash floods that overturn cars and send residents scurrying to the rooftops.

Eleven people died in southern France after torrential rains triggered flash floods that overturned cars and sent residents scurrying to safety on rooftops, officials said today. Rescuers scrambled overnight to help hundreds of people trapped in their vehicles, houses or on rooftops, in the Draguignan area off the Mediterranean coast, while helicopters were sent in to airlift residents to safety. Heavy rains on Tuesday caused water levels to rise swiftly in the area, preventing many people from fleeing to higher ground and forcing some to seek shelter on the roofs of their homes. State authorities in the Var department said 11 people had died and two were missing, raising the toll from 10 dead and four missing. "We haven't seen anything like this in a decade," said the top official for the Var department, Hugues Parant. Up to 200,000 homes were without electricity and the rising waters also trapped a high speed train travelling from Nice to Lille with 300 passengers on board.

The SNCF rail authority halted all train services between Toulon and Saint-Raphael until Thursday, saying some three kilometres (1.8 miles) of tracks were completely flooded. France's president, Nicolas Sarkozy, issued a statement expressing condolences for the victims' families and support for rescue teams who are "mobilising non-stop to provide aid and find those still missing." The head of the emergency operation, Corinne Orzechowski, said more than 30 centimetres (12 inches) of rain had fallen since Tuesday, causing water levels to rise to alarming levels in the streets of Draguignan, a town of some 40,000 residents.

"This morning, we woke up to find a city that was devastated, extremely battered with overturned cars floating in the streets, collapsed roads and gutted houses," said Orzechowski. More than 1,000 people were involved in the emergency effort, backed by nine helicopters and 15 boats, she said. "We are still in the rescue phase before moving on to the cleanup," she said, adding than makeshift shelters were opened to welcome about 1,200 people left homeless by the floods.

* AFP