France Floods: 1,600 Evacuated Including 119 Children as Flash Floods Hit Hard Camp Sites (PICTURES)
Helicopters have evacuated about 1,600 people from camp cities in the regions of southern France because of heavy rains and floods.Â
Source: Maps
1,600 EvacuatedÂ
The Gard region was flooded the most, with 119 kids rescued from the camp cities at Saint-Julien-de-Peyrolas. In total, about 1,600 people in the regions of southern France were evacuated.
Rachel Buchanan, from Oxford, stated,”The level and speed of the river today was extraordinary – we woke up in about a foot of water.”
“Driving in our camper van was very frightening as the road by the river was completely under water and waterfalls had appeared from nowhere crashing down the gorge.”
Source:Â AFP/GETTY IMAGES
UK Met Office meteorologist Marco Petagna said, “It’s located in the area of hot weather that has been affecting much of Europe just recently, although there is a cold front moving south.”
“Where you have got cold air trying to come in, at the boundary the hot air rises quite quickly and creates these rain clouds.
“There are still storms around, although they are starting to ease a little bit.”
Source:Â AFP/GETTY IMAGES
Nearly 400 firefighters and gendarmes, mostly sent in from other regions, helped t evacuate people from camp places using helicopters.
Source:Â AFP/GETTY IMAGES
Harry Ollerton, from Shropshire, heard “the loudest thunder and brightest flashes of lighting”.
“It didn’t let up – the lightning was constant and terrifyingly close to our tent and campsite,” he told the media.
“It passed straight over us, knocking out the power to our pitch and our phone signal suddenly went dead.”
“Village streets had turned into rivers and the rain was so hard that we couldn’t barely see out of the window,” he added. “Some of the roads were so flooded that they were barely passable. We were lucky to make it out of the area, soaked through but unharmed, by the sound of things.”
Source:Â AFP/GETTY IMAGES
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