Overview
- A violent autumn Mediterranean storm produced torrential rains that caused rapid flash flooding across the Bouches-du-Rhône, sweeping away vehicles and inundating low-lying areas.
- The prefecture said late Wednesday that the official toll stands at three dead and one injured following the floods.
- Firefighters reported finding two women, aged 86 and 26, drowned in a cellar in Lançon-Provence and recovering a 75-year-old man who had been swept away in Istres earlier.
- Emergency teams remain mobilized to search affected areas, assess damage, restore services and investigate the circumstances of the drownings.
- Such Mediterranean convective storms often trigger sudden, localized floods and put cellars and low-lying zones at high risk, a pattern that local officials warn residents to avoid in future episodes.