Nice, France: At least 16 people were killed in violent storms and flooding that struck the chic French Riviera overnight, with three people still missing, President Francois Hollande said on Sunday.
The president visited the site of the disaster, which occurred when the Cote d'Azur was lashed by to 180 millimetres (seven inches) of rain in just three hours. "The toll is not yet final. In these moments, we must be fast, efficient and coordinated," said Hollande. Three people died when water engulfed a retirement home at Biot near Antibes, and three drowned when their car was trapped by rising waters in a small tunnel at Vallauris-Golfe-Juan.
Other fatalities were reported in Antibes and Cannes. Rescue teams at Mandelieu-la-Napoule said the water was so murky that they could not see the bodies trapped in underground car parks, where at least seven people died. "It's apocalyptic," said mayor Henri Leroy. "The parking was half-emptied but there are thousands of vehicles. There could be more bodies."
Fire engines were busy sucking water out of underground parkings and basements. "I saw water pour in from the veranda. Within five minutes, it was up to my waist," said one retired resident, France Oberlin, still in shock.
"I couldn't open the doors but luckily a neighbour came," she said. Sat on a plastic chair, surrounded by debris and overturned cars, she looked despairingly at her ground-floor apartment, in which everything has been destroyed.
Water coursed through Cannes, Nice and Antibes, transforming the streets of three of France's most glamourous cities into debris-strewn rivers.