“Searches are continuing in the hardest hit areas, which are often difficult to access”, the Interior Ministry said, warning there was little hope of finding a few of those missing alive.
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French President Francois Hollande thanked rescuers and politicians for their work so far, expressing the “solidarity of the nation” and offering condolences to the families affected, while Prime Minister Manuel Valls spoke of his “deep emotion” upon hearing of the deaths. The reason for the lowered death toll wasn’t immediately clear.
Three people died when water engulfed a retirement home at Biot near Antibes, and three drowned when their auto was trapped by rising waters in a small tunnel at Vallauris-Golfe-Juan. In nearby Antibes, cars were overturned and roads were slick with mud.
More than 17cm – 6.7ins – of rain fell in the region in two hours, local radio France Bleu-Azur reported.
Helicopters were searching for victims Sunday and 27,000 homes had no electricity, the ministry said.
“Some cars were carried off into the sea”, said Cannes Mayor Davis Lisnard, describing water levels reaching halfway up vehicle doors and trees left uprooted on the city’s main drag. “We have rescued a lot of people, and we must now be vigilant against looting”, he added, in accordance to AFP.
Rescue teams at Mandelieu-la-Napoule, meanwhile, were searching for six people missing in underground auto parks, according to emergency coordinators.
John Canavan was in Cannes as the flood hit and said: “It was slow in the beginning and, in an instant, it was ten times worse”.
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Several trains were stopped because of flooded tracks, and traffic remained stopped along the Mediterranean coast between Nice and Toulon on Sunday morning, according to the SNCF rail authority. In Nice, a soccer match in the French first division was abandoned midway due to the rain.
