19 Dead in French Flash Floods

Worst flooding in 200 years
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Jun 17, 2010 2:10 AM CDT
19 Dead in French Flash Floods
A View of a flooded street in Draguignan, southern France.   (AP Photo/Claude Paris)

The worst flash floods since Napoleon's day have killed at least 19 people in southeastern France. The equivalent of 6 months of rainfall fell within hours, turning roads into rivers and forcing many residents to seek shelter on top of their homes. Many of the dead were caught in their cars. Rescue workers are still searching for missing people and the death toll is expected to rise. Flights were suspended, and a train from Nice to Lille was stranded with 300 passengers on board.

"We opened the door of the house and the water rushed toward us like the sea. There was a great wave. We managed to swim to our neighbors," a resident of a town near Marseille told the Telegraph. "It wasn't a flood, it was a catastrophe." (More France stories.)

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