The Garonne river’s overflooded bank following strong winds and heavy rains in Bordeaux
BORDEAUX (France), Dec 16 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Fierce storms in southwest France have claimed a third victim, authorities said, after a man in his forties was found dead in his submerged car two days after going missing.
Deputy district attorney Laurent Bidault blamed the death on the weather, adding that the body had been found on Sunday afternoon near the flooded Adour river, east of Dax.
“The car was under water, invisible,” Bidault said.
The bad weather hit the region on Friday, with gale-force winds and heavy rain leaving thousands of homes without electricity on Saturday.
Two men in their seventies had already been declared victims of the storms.
A 70-year-old man died in the Pyrenees-Atlantique in the Basque Country on Friday when his vehicle struck a fallen tree.
In Espiens in the Lot-et-Garonne region, also on Friday, a 76-year-old man was swept away by rising waters when he went out to fetch his mail.
Rescuers found his body 24 hours later more than a kilometre from his home.
Four departments in southwest France remained on flood alert Sunday. — NNN-AGENCIES
