Heavy rain and thunderstorms on Thursday led to damage and flooding in the
Gard department in the south of France and on parts of the Côte d'Azur.
143 mm rain fell in Nice in the 72 hours ending 18.00 UTC on Friday.

One person was found drowned in a river in the Hérault department. In the
Gard department train services were suspended and the A54 and A19 motorways
were closed from Thursday afternoon to the early hours of Friday. Roads
were blocked by flooding in about 90 locations.

Floodwater was up to 40 cm deep in Nîmes and the surrounding area. Several
hundred people had to be evacuated from villages south of Nîmes. 1500
households lost electricity and 2000 their telephone lines. Some 4500
pupils had to stay in their schools on Thursday evening because transport
home was impossible.

Further to the SE in the Var and Alpes-Maritimes departments the fire
services were called out more than 500 times. Cars were damaged by
flooding in Menton. In Cannes someone was sucked into a culvert but found
safe and well on the beach some time later. Seven roads in the Var
department were blocked and houses were flooded in Brignoles, Saint-Tropez
and Hyères. In the Alpes-Maritimes the A8 motorway was closed by a
landslip.

Vidéos of the storms and flooding can be downloaded from the website of
France 2 TV http://info.france2.fr/france/13398095-fr.php - under the
heading "Vidéos" on the top right-hand side.

Colin Youngs
Brussels