MARSEILLE, Oct 29 – Nearly 600 people were trapped in southern France yesterday after floods damaged a bridge on the only road to a holiday village, with a local mayor saying authorities were working to evacuate them.
“The sun is shining today and there is water and electricity, no one is panicking,” said Liliane Boyer, the mayor of Le Muy, located halfway between Marseille and Nice in southeastern France.
“All the authorities are trying to allow the tourists who were supposed to leave today or this week to leave the area,” he said.
France is in the middle of the two-week autumn school holidays when many families are on holiday elsewhere in the country.
The holiday village of Canebieres, made up of houses and trailers, was sheltering 584 people when heavy rain and flooding hit south-eastern France at the weekend.
Three people were evacuated by helicopter for health reasons late Sunday and taken to hospitals in the area, the Var regional office said.
For those who had to leave the village, they had to ask to be taken out by heavy-duty vehicle through the forest path before continuing by train or plane, the village of Canebieres said on its website. – AFP
