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French storms and floods leave 15 dead
“Draguignan was the worst-hit town, with hundreds of vehicles swept away and several neighborhoods under water,” the local prefect Hugues Parant told France Bleu Provence radio. He said the number of casualties could rise. More than 1,000 people found refuge in schools and other buildings after their homes were swamped. Helicopters flew over 450 rescue missions and some 100,000 households were without electricity.
Television pictures showed scores of stranded people packed on the raised terrace of one holiday camp, with surrounding land and low-lying buildings submerged under muddy water. Locals said people were surprised by the speed at which the waters rose, turning streets into torrents and carrying away cars as if they were toys.
“It was dramatic,” said Draguignan mayor Max Piselli. “The town is in a terrible state, with rocks, stones, mud and cars blocking the roads.” The airport in Toulon, closed late on Tuesday because its runways were flooded, reopened on Wednesday morning. Train services along the coast were expected to return to normal on Thursday, railway officials said. In February, a ferocious storm and surging tide killed 53 people in southwestern France.
At least 25 perish in Myanmar deluge
Elsewhere in Myanmar, heavy rain triggered floods and landslides, washing away bridges, blocking roads and killing at least 25 people, local officials and an aid worker said on Wednesday.
Myanmar is no stranger to harsh weather and at least 140,000 people were killed in 2008 when a cyclone hit the south of the country. Large areas of two districts in Rakhine State in the west of the country had been inundated after torrential rain this week, an official who declined to be identified said by telephone from the region. One road had been blocked by a landslide, he added. A worker for an international non-governmental organization, who also declined to be identified, said at least 25 people had died.
“We are still carrying out a survey and assessment of the damage and casualties and I think the death toll will keep rising,” he said, adding that the government and NGOs based in the region were doing relief work.
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