France has been left in shock after the deaths of at least 16 people in flash floods on the Riviera coast. There is a warning the death toll may
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France has been left in shock after the deaths of at least 16 people in flash floods on the Riviera coast.
There is a warning the death toll may rise, as a number of people are also missing.
Roads became rivers when 180 mm of rain fell in three hours on Saturday night. The region has had the equivalent of a month’s rainfall in just two days.
“There are five people missing,” one woman told reporters,“they went down the road to get their cars and they never came back.”
The extent of the devastation only became clear at first light. Some were trapped when the floodwaters laid waste to campsites in the area.
Hundreds of people spent the night on trains stranded in stations. The main east-west line has been closed.
Others were forced to shelter in the terminal at Nice Airport.
Police reinforcements have been drafted in to maintain law and order.