At least four people were killed and two others are missing after the floods that hit south-eastern France on the weekend of 23 November. If the orange flood alert was raised Monday in the Var, torrential rains have caused extensive damage across the Riviera.
Monday mid-day, searches were still going on to find two people: a man who took his car on Saturday, between Saint-Maximin-la-Sainte-Baume (Var) and Seillons-Source-d'Argens, n ' has given more sign of life since, have we learned from a source close to the record, confirming information France Bleu Var.
A septuagenarian missing since Saturday also in Saint-Antonin-du-Var was also always sought. Important means, divers, helicopter, drones, etc., were deployed Sunday all day around his house, said the mayor of Saint-Antonin-du-Var, Serge Baldecchi.
Four people were killed during the weekend. Three of them remained stuck in their submerged vehicles, and a fourth drowned when the firefighter's rescue boat capsized.
# METEO83 Monday, November 25, 2019, 12 noon, lifting of the vigilance orange: return to the YELLOW level #Var https://t.co/TZ5gQpRQBB
- Prefect of Var (@ Prefet83) November 25, 2019Five hundred households without electricity
The Alpes-Maritimes and Var, where 500 households were still without power Monday in the middle of the day, were affected by torrential rains accompanied by impressive waves on the coast and many rivers overflowed. In some parts of the Var, it fell the equivalent of two to three months of rain in 24 to 48 hours.
The biggest flood was that of the Argens, rising more than seven meters in Roquebrune-sur-Argens, a level of flood "that can be found only every 50 years," according to the head of the Departmental Department of fire and rescue (Sdis) of the Var.
Mediterranean Episode || On the #Var, it has regularly fallen the equivalent of 2/3 months of rain in 48h (between Fri 12h-Sun 12h):
✅353,1 mm at Tanneron
✅ 291,7 mm to Fréjus Mont-Vinaigre
✅259,6 mm in Entrecasteaux
➡️ Back on this episode: https://t.co/DbUUfbb1SD pic.twitter.com/Lw2V4yHLle
Traffic remained difficult on Monday as many highways were still cut off to traffic, according to Inforoutevar. In the region of Toulon, several roads were closed following landslides, and in the hinterland, towards Brignoles, tracks were still flooded.
In the Alpes-Maritimes, roads were made early Monday morning to traffic but thirty remained impassable, because of a flooded pavement, collapsed, or following a landslide. In this mountainous department, the risks of falling rocks are important.
In Muy (Var), one of the most affected communes, about twenty people could not return home. "They were relocated, in the family or mobile home," said Mayor Liliane Boyer, who manages the third episode of flood in ten years and the second most violent since 2010.
"They criticize me because I say we have to live with the risk but the floods of the Argens have always taken place, the water was spreading in the plain and touching some houses, that's why the farms were high, "she continued.
In addition, Météo France placed late Monday morning vigilant orange floods Puy-de-Dome and Gironde.