Two people were killed in France and 8 others were missing in Italy yesterday, as a result of severe floods that struck the border regions of the two countries, as a storm and torrential rains caused torrential torrents that swept the roads and damaged homes, and a French mayor described the disaster as the worst in a century.
Storm Alex (Alex) hit the western coast of France last Thursday with strong winds and torrential rain before reaching the Italian north, and the disaster led to many villages in the two countries being cut off and the soil slipped, and hundreds of rescue teams race for time to find survivors of the disaster.
Yesterday, Agence France-Presse reported that a 53-year-old Italian civil defense volunteer died while working in the Aosta Valley, while a man died after his vehicle fell in the Cecia Valley, about 100 km east of the Aosta Valley.
The Italian authorities said that rescue teams found 21 people missing in the border area with France, following a landslide in the mountainous Col de Tende region.
The loss of 8 people was recorded in the vicinity of the city of Nice in southeast France, close to the border with Italy, and the collapse of roads hindered some rescue operations on the French side of the border.
Contingency plan
French Prime Minister Jean Castex, who inspected the damage in Nice from a helicopter, announced that 8 people were officially missing, adding that communication with many others was still cut off, and the French official added that his government launched an emergency plan to deal with the disaster.
A member of the Italian civil defense inspects a flooded car in a town near the border with France (Reuters)
Nice Mayor Christian Estrosi described the consequences of the storm as the worst flood disaster in the region in more than a century, after it inspected the most affected area by helicopter, and the floods cut off electricity to 12,000 people in three valleys in the north of Nice.
France deployed the army and dozens of rescue teams to search for the missing and transport aid to the victims in the flood-affected areas.
Record rates And
television footage from France and Italy showed many roads and bridges in the northwest of the country, which were swept by torrents, with news of many rivers flooding its banks, and officials in the Italian region of Piedmont said that a record rate of 630 mm of rain fell in Sampojito near The border with Switzerland, and the governor of the region demanded that the government of Rome declare a state of emergency there.
And the French Meteorological Agency recorded 500 millimeters of rain over 24 hours in some areas, which is equivalent to more than 3 months of rain at this time of the year.
And led to Storm Alex, Switzerland also recorded record rates of rain in some areas with winds, which led to the closure of some roads.