France and Italy step up rescue efforts for missing persons after three killed in floods

French and Italian rescue services stepped up their search efforts on Sunday after floods cut off several villages in the mountainous border regions, causing widespread damage and killing three people.

Eight people remained unaccounted for on the French side of the border after storms, torrential rain and flash floods battered the area, washing away roads and houses, cutting off entire villages and triggering landslips.

In Breil-sur-Roya, a French village close to the Italian border, houses were buried in mud and overturned cars stuck in the riverbed.

Rescue efforts were concentrated on the Roya valley where roughly 1,000 firefighters, backed by helicopters and the army, resumed their search for survivors and helped people whose homes were destroyed or inaccessible.

Storm Alex barrelled into France’s west coast on October 1 bringing powerful winds and rain across the country before moving into northern Italy.

“What we are going through is extraordinary,” said Bernard Gonzalez, prefect of the Alpes-Maritimes region, after as much as 60 centimetres (two feet) of rain fell in 24 hours in the worst-affected areas.