The Gardon river rose sharply on Saturday, September 19, leading to the evacuation of a neighborhood.

The waters have since dropped significantly.

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AFP

The search to find a 64-year-old woman missing on Saturday in the Cévennes mountains after a violent rainy and stormy episode resumed Sunday, we learned from the Gard firefighters.

"We have a dog team in addition to the teams hired to scan the two banks of the Hérault around the point where the person was spotted before his disappearance.

Reconnaissance will also be made by helicopter, ”Gard fire commander Eric Agrinier told AFP.

Last seen in his car

The 64-year-old caregiver was reportedly last seen in her car near the town of Pont-de-l'Hérault.

The severe thunderstorms and downpours that hit this mountain area on Saturday ended around the middle of the night and life resumed Sunday in the affected localities.

No casualties were to be counted and the damage mainly concerned secondary roads, houses affected by floods and the water network in a handful of villages which will need to be supplied.

Time for lull

Météo-France lifted the red rain-flood and flood vigilance for the Gard during the night and no department was in orange vigilance for floods or thunderstorms early Sunday.

In Anduze, a town of 3,400 inhabitants, where the Gardon river rose sharply, leading to the evacuation of a district, the water has fallen sharply, noted an AFP journalist.

Residents whose homes were hit by the water passed through the streets, equipped with buckets and squeegees to clean up the remains of mud.

The firefighters will also help with the pumping.

45 rescues in a few hours

More than 45 rescues had to be carried out in a few hours on Saturday and some 400 people had to be brought to safety from Anduze to Valleraugue via Saint-Jean-du-Gard.

With the end of this rainy and stormy episode and of "the critical phase", "they can now go home," said Eric Agrinier.

Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin and Minister of Ecological Transition Barbara Pompili announced that they would go to the Gard on Sunday afternoon.

The Cevennes episodes generally occur in autumn, when the Mediterranean Sea is the hottest, then promoting strong evaporation.

These hot, humid and unstable air masses move northwards causing heavy rains.

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Weather forecast: Hérault and Lozère in orange vigilance for thunderstorms, Gard in red

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