FRANCE: Much of southern France was declared a disaster zone yesterday on the third day of torrential rains that have flooded vast areas and claimed at least five lives.
Up to five times the average precipitation for December fell on Tuesday alone, and meteorologists said the storms will not subside until this afternoon. Six to eight metre-high waves and winds of up to 150 kmph coming off the Mediterranean worsened the disaster by holding back the swollen waters of the Rhone and other rivers.
Accompanied by his interior and environment ministers, President Jacques Chirac spend nearly an hour with rescue workers at Valabre in the Bouches-du-Rhône department. The government has set aside €12 million in emergency funds to help flood victims. The interior and defence ministries have dispatched 20 helicopters for rescue operations.
More than 10,000 people have been evacuated from their homes in south-eastern and south-central France. The authorities are watching dikes along the tributaries to the Rhône; several have already flooded, and others show signs of breaking.
In Marseilles, a 45-year-old man was drowned in an underground passageway where several cars were trapped in 2.5 metres of mud and water. A 64-year-old man was swept away by a mud slide.
The body of a man aged 80 was found in Orange. In the Ardèche department, the body of a motorist aged 50 was found after his car slid into a river. A 53-year-old woman was carried away by flood waters.
Last night a woman seven months pregnant was missing in Hérault, the worst-hit department, where 300 mm of rain fell yesterday. Nineteen of 95 departments in mainland France have been flooded. Hérault will remain on "red alert" until 4 p.m. today.
Reactors at the Tricastin and Cruas-Meysse nuclear power plants were shut down because engineers feared that trees and other detritus carried by the Rhône could obstruct the cooling system.