French rescuers are searching for 7 people, including two children, who went missing after strong storms in the south of the country, with most of them believed to have been swept away in cars on flooded bridges, AFP reported.
A family of four, including two children aged 4 and 13, got caught in the floodwaters while trying to cross a bridge over the Gardon River in the village of Dions, north of the city of Nîmes, the prefecture said.
The father and two children are still missing, but the 40-year-old mother, who was also in the car, was found by rescuers and taken to hospital, she added.
In Dion, a helicopter flew over the village and over the waters of the River Gardon, and a large number of firefighters joined the search, aided by drones and dogs. The bridge was still submerged.
Rescuers were also searching for two women, believed to be aged 47 and 50, who called the bridge in the northern town of Gudargus before losing contact.
Another driver, a Belgian national, is also missing and is believed to have been swept off a bridge in the village of Ganier, also in the Gare department. The road was closed and an officer told the driver not to drive on the bridge, officials said.
A passenger in his car, also Belgian, managed to get out and hide in a tree before being rescued after more than two hours in the branches.
In the neighboring Ardèche department, the manager of a hydroelectric plant who went to check the facility is also missing in the village of Saint-Martin-de-Valmas. The search continues.
Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin announced that rescuers had carried out a total of 35 operations during the storm and torrential rains that engulfed the Ardèche and Gare departments. He added that all the stolen vehicles had been recovered, but there was still "no sign" of the missing.
The prefecture in the Gar department expressed regret that, despite numerous warnings about the approaching storm, "we are still seeing behavior that is dangerous above all for the people themselves, but also for the people whose duty it is to come to their aid." /BGNES
