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Agence France-Presse

At least 11 people died when violent rainstorms turned rivers into raging torrents in southwest France on Monday, prompting some of the deadliest flooding in years, officials said.
The equivalent of three months rainfall was dumped overnight in the region of Carcassonne in just a few hours, sending rivers over their banks, including the Aude, which reached levels not seen in 100 years.
Local authorities in the Aude department said 11 people were killed, a second reduction in the official toll which had earlier stood at 13, a figure given by the interior ministry.
Two people were still missing with eight others seriously injured, authorities added.

President Emmanuel Macron, whose office said he will soon visit the affected areas, offered “the sympathy and solidarity of the entire nation for the victims of the Aude flooding and their families.”
The rescue operations appear to have delayed an expected announcement on a government reshuffle, triggered by the sudden resignation of interior minister Gerard Collomb nearly two weeks ago.
Prime Minister Edouard Philippe, who is acting as interim interior minister, said the government would ask insurers to process disaster claims and payments “as quickly as possible” while he assessed the damage in the region.
Search teams comb debris for victims of Hurricane Michael
One of the overnight victims was an 88-year-old nun who was swept from her room by floodwaters at the Burning Bush priory in the village of Villardonnel, north of the fortress city of Carcassonne.
“The water crashed through the building’s main door and on through the door to her room, the lowest in the convent,” said Sister Irene, the mother superior.
Elsewhere, flash floods overturned cars, gutted streets and battered buildings and bridges, especially to the north of Carcassonne where authorities ordered bridges closed.



The Aude’s levels were expected to peak late Monday evening. Evacuations were still being carried out in several towns in the afternoon, local authorities said.
“There’s water everywhere in the house. Everything is flooded,” Helene Segura said by telephone from the hard-hit village of Villegailhenc, where at least one small bridge had collapsed.
“Rescue teams were deployed as quickly as possible, but operations have proved to be complicated,” said interior ministry spokesman Frederic de Lanouvelle.
In the town of Trebes, near Carcassonne, the Aude rose eight metres in just five hours, officials said.
According to the latest toll figures from the regional authorities, a total of six people died in Trebes.
Two elderly residents died overnight in Villegailhenc, where the main bridge collapsed, and one person was killed in Villalier.
On Monday evening the body of another victim was found in Carcassonne making this one of the deadliest storms in France for a decade.
With many roads impassable, helicopters were used in the rescue operations.
Around 1,000 people were evacuated from the area of Pezens, also near Carcassonne, amid fears that a nearby dam could burst, and thousands of homes throughout the area were without electricity after strong winds brought down power lines.
The storms were triggered when a front of warm and humid air from the Mediterranean Sea slammed into colder air around the Massif Central mountain range, inundating an area from the eastern Pyrenees to Aveyron further north.
This well-known weather pattern occurs three to six times a year in the region and nearly always triggers flash flooding.
But the French weather forecasting service, Meteo France, suggested these episodes had recently become more frequent and more severe.


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Extreme weather

11 dead in France flooding, as three months of rain falls in one night

A firefighter helps a youngster in a flooded street during rescue operation following heavy rains that saw rivers bursting banks on Monday in Trebes, near Carcassone, southern France. Photo: Agence France-Presse

TOPSHOT - An aerial view taken on October 15, 2018 shows a flooded road near the city of Puichéric, southern France. - Thirteen people have died after severe storms caused flash flooding across wide stretches of southwest France overnight, sweeping away vehicles and swamping homes, the interior ministry's rescue service said. (Photo by SYLVAIN THOMAS / AFP)

TOPSHOT - An aerial view taken on October 15, 2018 shows a flooded street in the city of Puichéric, near Carcassone, southern France. - Thirteen people have died after severe storms caused flash flooding across wide stretches of southwest France overnight, sweeping away vehicles and swamping homes, the interior ministry's rescue service said. (Photo by SYLVAIN THOMAS / AFP)

By 2030, flooding and extreme weather could cost South Asian countries US$215 billion every year

A flooded street in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Photo: Xinhua

(170911) -- DHAKA, Sept. 11, 2017 (Xinhua) -- Rickshaws and vehicles are seen on a flooded road in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Sept. 11, 2017. (Xinhua/Salim Reza)(yk)

Monstrous Hurricane Michael tears into Florida

Fierce storm downgraded as the eye moved across southwestern Georgia

PANAMA CITY, FL - OCTOBER 10: People look on at a damaged store after Hurricane Michael passed through on October 10, 2018 in Panama City, Florida. Michael made landfall at Mexico Beach today a Category 4 storm, with maximum sustained winds of 155 mph, the most powerful storm ever to hit the Florida Panhandle. Mark Wallheiser/Getty Images/AFP == FOR NEWSPAPERS, INTERNET, TELCOS & TELEVISION USE ONLY ==

PANAMA CITY, FL - OCTOBER 10: A stores windows are seen shattered as hurricane Michael passed through the downtown area on October 10, 2018 in Panama City, Florida. The hurricane hit the Florida Panhandle as a category 4 storm. Joe Raedle/Getty Images/AFP == FOR NEWSPAPERS, INTERNET, TELCOS & TELEVISION USE ONLY ==

Mcdonald's Corp. signage stands damaged from Hurricane Michael in Panama City Beach, Florida, U.S., on Wednesday, Oct. 10, 2018. Investors are tracking Hurricane Michael as it barrels toward Florida with winds strengthening to 145 miles per hour, posing potential consequences for companies in the building, hospital, insurance and energy industries, among others. The Category 4 storm, poised to be the strongest to hit the continental U.S. since 2004, is expected to make landfall Wednesday and could cause $16 billion in damage. Photographer: Luke Sharrett/Bloomberg

Michael, whose rapid intensification as it churned north over the Gulf of Mexico caught many by surprise, made landfall early in the afternoon near Mexico Beach, about 32 km southeast of Panama City, Florida. Photo: AFP

Search teams comb debris for victims of Hurricane Michael as death toll expected to rise

About 1.5 million homes and businesses were without power from Florida to Virginia early on Friday, following the arrival of the hurricane, which continued inland as a dangerous storm

In this image made from video and provided by SevereStudios.com, damage from Hurricane Michael is seen in Mexico Beach, Fla. on Thursday, Oct. 11, 2018. Search-and-rescue teams fanned out across the Florida Panhandle to reach trapped people in Michael's wake Thursday as daylight yielded scenes of rows upon rows of houses smashed to pieces by the third-most powerful hurricane on record to hit the continental U.S. (SevereStudios.com via AP)

A gas station lies in ruin in the aftermath of Hurricane Michael on October 12, 2018 in Panama City, Florida. - Search and rescue teams faced a second day of sifting through the ruined landscape left by Hurricane Michael on Friday as the death toll rose to 11. (Photo by HECTOR RETAMAL / AFP)

A boat sits amidst debris in the aftermath of Hurricane Michael in Mexico Beach, Fla., Thursday, Oct. 11, 2018. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

People walk amid destruction on the main street of Mexico Beach, Florida, in the aftermath of Hurricane Michael on Thursday. Photo: AP Photo

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The deluge hit the southwest region of Carcasonne, bursting river banks


11 dead in France flooding, as three months of rain falls in one night

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}The deluge hit the southwest region of Carcasonne, bursting river banks

The deluge hit the southwest region of Carcasonne, bursting river banks