France – Two people died in Italy and eight were missing in France on Saturday after storms, torrential rain and flash floods battered the border …
France – Two people died in Italy and eight were missing in France on Saturday after storms, torrential rain and flash floods battered the border area, washing away roads and houses, cutting off whole villages and triggering landslips, as hundreds of rescuers raced to find stranded survivors. Torrential rain of up to 50 centimetres (20 inches) and high winds crashed into the border area in the latest of a string of strong storms in recent years. Storm Alex barrelled into France’s west coast on Thursday bringing powerful winds and rain across the country before moving into Italy, where regions across the north suffered an onslaught throughout Saturday. ‘We are alive’ “I lost everything but we are alive,” said Jennyfer,29, from Roquebilliere in France’s southern Alps. “There must be one room left in my house,” she said after she returned following evacuation on Friday to survey the damage wrought by the Vesubie river. A volunteer firefighter died in Italy’s Aosta Valley and a man was killed after his car was washed away in the river Sesia, about 100 kilometres (60 miles) further east. Italy had reported a large group of people missing after landslides hit the border area near the Col de Tende mountain pass in France.
