French rescuers search for flood survivors after two die in Italy
MORE than 1,000 firefighters and soldiers searched for survivors yesterday after floods devastated mountain villages north of the French Riviera city of Nice and in neighbouring Italy, killing at least three people.
At least 25 others were reported missing, including two French firemen, amid fears that the death toll will rise. Mobile phone and landline services were down in many villages and about 10,500 homes were without electricity.
Christian Estrosi, the mayor of Nice, said the area’s “worst floods in more than a century” washed away houses and destroyed roads and bridges.
The equivalent of nearly a year’s average rainfall fell in less than 12 hours when a storm hit border areas of France and Italy on Saturday.
An Italian fireman was killed during a rescue in the mountainous northern region of Val d’aosta. A man was also swept away in the Piedmont region’s Vercelli province, where a body was found.
Italian authorities also recovered the body of a French shepherd in the Roya river. The floodwaters had carried his body across the border.
The two French firemen went missing after their vehicle was carried away by a torrent when a road collapsed south of Saint-martin-vésubie.