PARIS, Oct. 4 (UPI) — At least 16 people died and three are missing in southeast France due to flooding caused by torrential rainfall.
The rain began Saturday evening and set off flash floods. The city of Nice in the French department of Alpes-Maritimes received about 10 percent of its average yearly rain in just two days. In the city of Antibes, three elderly people drowned when their retirement community flooded.
Others died when they were trapped in their cars while in tunnels and in underground parking garages.
President Francois Hollande said he will visit the region to pay respect to the deceased.
“I express the solidarity of the nation to the families and relatives of the victims of the floods in the Alpes-Maritime,” Hollande said in a statement.
Up to 7 inches of water fell within a three-hour span in the Alpes-Maritimes. The city of Cannes was also flooded.
“It was terrifying,” Cannes resident Katya Higham-Stoianova told BBC News. “We wanted to go out but decided not to as the rain was unbelievably heavy. The level of water was rising very quickly.”
