Britons hit in holiday park f loods
BRITISH tourists are among hundreds of people caught up in flash flooding in the south of France just as the tourist season reaches its peak.
At least 1,600 people camping on their summer holidays have had to be found alternative emergency shelter after tents and caravans were washed away.
The thunderstorms and heavy rains have hit the popular holidaying regions of Gard, Ardeche and Drome the hardest.
British campers are among those recovering in emergency shelters after they were rescued from holiday parks and campsites wrecked by the bad weather.
The storms which caused the floods came after a period of unusually hot weather in southern France and much of Europe.
Kathryn Alford, 44, from Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire, was at Huttopia Camping Le Moulin in Saint Martin d’Ardeche with her husband and two children.
Severe
She said severe storms started at around 7am on Thursday with very heavy rain and constant thunder and lightning.
“I looked out at one point and realised that the water level seemed higher than just massive puddles.
“Our neighbour’s bottom step had disappeared and things were floating past,” she said, adding that they had also lost electricity.
Between storms, Ms Alford took pictures of people in canoes in the flood outside the mobile home she was staying in.
“I was quite frightened at first as I hate storms. Some people were concerned, but the campsite were good at reassuring us. I felt really sorry for the people whose tents were flooded,” she said.
Ms Alford said the fire brigade came to the site to pump out water which came down suddenly from the hills.
“When things had calmed down around four-ish we went down to the village and were met by the sight of water pouring down streets from hills into a completely changed raging river,” she said, referring to the Ardeche. Rachel Buchanan, from Oxford, endured a “frightening” drive through floodwater that had hit another site in the Ardeche region.
“The level and speed of the river today was extraordinary – we woke up in about a foot of water,” she said.
“Driving in our camper van was very frightening as the road by the river was completely under water and waterfalls had appeared from nowhere, crashing down the gorge.”
According to UK Met Office almost three inches of rain fell over south-east France in 24 hours. French divers are searching for a 70-year-old German man who was swept off by a torrent of rushing water at an allegedly illegal site in SaintJulien-de-Peyrolas in Gard, north of Avignon, along with his camper van.
He was there supervising a party of schoolchildren. They are all safe.
Two German men have been arrested for setting up the site and face charges of “causing involuntary injuries”, “endangering the lives of others”, “concealing a work place”, and the “exploitation of a campsite without authorisation”.
They could face jail if convicted. About 120 police, 300 firemen and four helicopters were deployed in the area as part of a major rescue operation.
A photograph showed a tangle of bicycles swept away at the campsite as fire brigade rescuers clambered past them wearing safety gear.
A caravan was seen smashed against a tree with its side caved in.
Elsewhere in the town of Bourg, in the Gironde, streets were feet deep in water, washing away cars.
And in Avignon cars crushed by falling trees. were