1,600 People Evacuated in France Floods

Heavy floods have forced the evacuation of 1,600 people, from campsites after torrential rain hits three regions of southern France. Helicopters, divers and hundreds of firefighters involved in rescue after torrent swept through campsites.
Officials said more than 400 firefighters and police  and four helicopters  have been deployed to the regions. Authorities warned that the flooding would take time to recede and urged people to be vigilant.
Several people were taken to hospital with minor injuries. Numerous roads in the area remained cut off as night fell.
The worst hit areas are Gard, Ardèche and Drôme. About 750 people in all were evacuated in the Gard region, where 119 children, many of them from Germany, were evacuated from their campsite at Saint-Julien-de-Peyrolas, Interior Minister Gerard Collomb said in a statement.
Rachel Buchanan, from Oxford in the UK, was camping close to a river in Ardèche when flooding hit. “We knew a storm was imminent and couldn’t believe the ferocity of last night’s storm,” she told
“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.”
“No one has suitcases. We just have what we’re wearing,” Rita Mauersberger, a visitor from Germany who was among the campers taking shelter in a local hall in Saint-Julien-de-Peyrolas.
>Juthy Saha