In Pictures

Flash floods hit France: the scale of the damage

The flooding swept away cars, gutted streets and battered buildings and bridges in southern France.

People use shovels and brooms to clean away mud as clean-up operations continue the day after some of the worst flash floods in a century turned rivers into raging torrents that engulfed homes and swept away cars hit the southwestern Aude district of France, in Conques, France. [Jean-Paul Pelissier/Reuters]

16 Oct 2018

At least 12 people have been killed in violent storms which lashed southwest France in some of the deadliest flooding in years.

Local authorities revised the official death toll downwards from the previous total of 13, which had earlier been issued by the interior ministry.

Two more people are still missing, with eight seriously injured.

President Emmanuel Macron offered “the sympathy and solidarity of the entire nation for the victims of the Aude flooding and their families”.

The flooding swept away cars, gutted streets and battered buildings and bridges.

With so many roads being impassable, helicopters were deployed to rescue those who were still stranded.

Thousands of homes throughout the area were without electricity.

Around 1,000 people were evacuated from the area of Pezens amid fears that a nearby dam could burst.

Last week, another weather system in the Mediterranean left 12 people dead on the Spanish island of Mallorca. The severe storms also triggered landslides in Sardinia and flooding in Malta.

The current weather system over the Mediterranean is likely to cause further flooding in Corsica and Sardinia today before easing.

The worst flooding for a century has devastated parts of southwest France. [Sylvain Thomas/AFP]

In the town of Trebes, the River Aude rose eight metres in just five hours. [Sylvain Thomas/AFP]

Rescue services saved numerous people who were left stranded. [Guillaume Horcajuelo/EPA]

The flooding gutted streets and battered buildings and bridges. [Guillaume Horcajuelo/EPA]

Cars were picked up by the water and tossed into a heap at the ends of streets. [Guillaume Horcajuelo/EPA]

Large swaths of the region remain underwater. [Sylvain Thomas/AFP]

Two people are still missing and eight have been seriously injured. [Guillaume Horcajuelo/EPA]