A Briton has died in flash floods on the French Riviera that have claimed at least 21 lives, officials said today.
The Foreign Office confirmed the death as French weather forecasters were criticised for failing to predict the devastating weather conditions.
Henry Leroy, the mayor of Mandelieu-la-Napoule, said at least seven people had died in underground car parks alone, while others lost their lives at campsites. “It’s apocalyptic,” he added. “There are thousands of vehicles. There could be more bodies.”
Authorities said the hope of finding four missing people had all but disappeared after the weekend’s flooding.
The mayor of Nice condemned Meteo France, the national weather agency, for not issuing a red alert. “Despite what happened, they’re content to tell us that we were on an orange alert,” Christian Estrosi said.
"There was certainly a level, but it was red! Nobody was alerted or warned about such violence. If there had been a red alert then precautions could have been taken.” Others were criticised for showing more interest in saving their cars than people. David Lisnard, the mayor of Cannes, said: “I’m not judging, because I don’t know how I would react in that situation, but it appears we had some people who were very attached to their vehicles when they should have been saving lives.”
There were 10 arrests for looting in Cannes alone, he added. Pilgrims returning from the Catholic shrine of Lourdes were among those trapped in trains overnight, as services were cancelled across the region.
SNCF, France’s rail operator, said the storm “did serious damage to the railway infrastructure”.
Meteo France said the storms had now passed over France and were heading towards the coast of Italy.
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