Death toll rises after flash flooding on French Riviera

Sudden flash floods have killed at least 10 people in southern France, including a few trapped in cars and in a retirement home.

The Alpes-Maritimes préfecture said on Sunday morning that the death toll now stood at 14.

It cited emergency responders and local officials as saying that five people died as they tried to park their cars in shelter and three others drowned when their vehicle became trapped inside a tunnel.

Other fatalities were reported in Antibes and Cannes.

Cannes Mayor Davis Lisnard said the water levels uprooted trees.

“The weather was devastating”, said a local emergency services source. “We have rescued a lot of people, and we must now be vigilant against looting”, he added, in accordance to AFP.

Speaking on a visit to Japan, Prime Minister Manuel Valls said Hollande and Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve were en route to the disaster zone.

Mr Hollande called for “national solidarity” in the face of the crisis.

Communications to the region – one of the wealthiest in France, and a magnet for visitors from around the world – were badly hit.

Planes and train services were affected during the storm, as thousands including many British people were stuck at Nice airport.

Hundreds of rail passengers were stranded on trains overnight because of flooded tracks. In Nice, a soccer match in the French first division was abandoned midway due to the rain.

Helicopters patrolled the area and 27,000 homes were without electricity Sunday after the Brague River overflowed its banks and fierce thunderstorms poured more than 17 centimetres (6.7 inches) of rain on the Cannes region in two hours Saturday night. The town of Nice received 10% of its average annual rainfall in the past two days, Nice’s mayoral office estimated to the Agence France-Presse. Forecasters say the the worst of the storms has passed.