Extreme downpours have wreaked havoc on the French Riviera, leaving at least four people dead and authorities warning that the toll could climb higher.
As much as 150 millimeters (6 inches) of rain in a span of two hours inundated parts of southeastern France’s Alpes-Maritimes district late Saturday, authorities said.
Rainfall of an “exceptional scale” caused “very significant damage” and resulted in the deaths of several people, the Alpes-Maritimes prefecture said on its Facebook page early Sunday.
Three people were killed in a retirement home in Biot, a community near the seaside town of Antibes, and another person was killed on a road in the resort city of Cannes, according to authorities.
But the prefecture said that the toll “can’t be considered definitive,” given the difficulties in reaching some areas.
The news agency Agence France-Presse reported that the violent weather had claimed the lives of 12 people.
It cited emergency responders and local officials as saying that five people died as they tried to park their cars in shelter and three others drowned when their vehicle became trapped inside a tunnel.
The prefecture said road and rail networks had been badly affected by the flooding.
Photos and videos posted on social media showed torrents of water flowing through the center of Cannes.
“Actual biblical rain here in Cannes now,” Stuart Dredge, a technology journalist, wrote on Twitter.