Storm Alex has caused havoc in south-eastern France and north-western Italy. Flash floods caused by heavy rains have destroyed homes and swept away roads on both sides of the border.
The Associated Press reports that 12 deaths – four French and eight Italian – have been recorded since October 2, when the rains started lashing the Alpes-Maritimes region in France and Liguria and Piedmont in Italy.
As of Tuesday, rescuers were still searching for 21 missing people, according to French Prime Minister Jean Castex, who visited the affected areas and expressed concern that the death toll could rise, according to CNN.
‘My thoughts go to grieving families, those who are waiting to hear from their relatives or who have lost everything,’ said Castex to the French National Assembly.
France has declared the region a natural disaster zone and President Emmanuel Macron will visit the area on October 7.
While authorities are saying that they are discovering more than just storm casualties. Corpses from cemeteries, believed to be washed down the mountains by the historic rains, have been found near the Mediterranean shore.
The corpses are in such an advanced state of decomposition that they were easily distinguishable from Storm Alex casualties, according to a spokesperson from the Alpes-Maritimes regional administration.
Allain Pallanca, a resident of the French Riveria city, Nice, told the AP that ‘The water, it was as fast as a Formula 1 (car), faster than 300 kilometers per hour and it wiped away everything in its path.’
Seven black Canadian wolves were reported missing after their enclosure at Alpha wildlife park just north of Nice was destroyed by the floods, according to French outlet The Local. While the dead body of one of the park’s three polar wolves was discovered after their enclosure was washed away, it is believed that the other two wolves are dead too.
‘The French Office for Biodiversity (OFB) has warned that the wolves may starve to death if not found soon as they are used to being fed. Two agents and a veterinary surgeon are searching the area by helicopter after sightings of some of the wolves were reported near the park,’ reads a Guardian report.
Television coverage and photographs from both countries lay bare the destruction. Roads and bridges have been swept away, some rivers have burst their banks and several cars and houses are shown on the edge of precipices formed because the floodwater sheared away the land.
The storm brought record rainfall to a few areas in the region. Officials in the Piedmont region recorded 630mm of rain in just 24 hours, according to CNN.
While Meteo, France reported 500mm of rain, over the same period, in Saint-Martin-Vésubie and close to 400mm in other nearby towns – which CNN say is the equivalent of more than three months rain at this time of the year.
Picture: Instagram
