03 July 2024,   21:43
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Storms and torrential rains that lashed France, Switzerland and Italy this weekend have left 7 people dead

At least 7 people were reported killed as extensive flooding and landslides caused by storms battered France, Switzerland and northern Italy. The bodies of 3 people were recovered following a landslide in the Fontana area of the Maggia valley in the Italian-speaking Ticino canton (state) on the southern side of the Alps.

Storms and heavy rain pounded southern and western Switzerland. Elsewhere in the country, a man was found dead in a hotel in Saas-Grund in the southwest canton of Valais, police said, adding that he was probably taken by surprise by a sudden rapid rise in floodwater.

In France, three people in their 70s and 80s died in the northeastern Aube region Saturday when a falling tree crushed the car they were traveling in, the local authority told AFP. A fourth passenger was in critical care, it added.

Northern Italy’s Piedmont and the Aosta Valley also suffered flooding and mudslides, though no deaths were reported. Firefighters in Piedmont announced Sunday morning that they had carried out 80 operations to rescue people in difficulty. A mudslide temporarily blocked a regional road to the ski resort of Cervinia in the Aosta Valley, a semi-autonomous region located along the border with France and Switzerland.

A river which burst its banks caused significant damage to the town center where several streets were flooded. A mudslide blocked access to Cogne, a village of 1,300 people in the Aosta Valley, where 90 millimeters of rainfall was recorded in a six-hour period Saturday.

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