At least three people were killed, including a married couple in the 1980s, whose vehicle took the flood after strong thunderstorms that hit Southeast France on Tuesday.
The abundant rain the day earlier forced the evacuation of hundreds of passengers in the TGV quick train in the middle of the night.
According to local authorities, the older couple died in the coastal town of Le Lavando, and another person in the city of Vidauban.
The couple’s vehicle took the floodwater.
The body of the woman remained trapped inside the wreck, he said for AFP Public Prosecutor Toulon Samuel Finielz.
The investigation was launched to determine the cause of death, he said, adding that “the situation in the field was quite difficult.”
Gil Bernardi, Mayor Lavandou, described the “war condition”, “destroyed roads” and “demolished bridges”.
“It was a really violent, crooked, incomprehensible phenomenon,” Bernardi told BFM television.
“Nothing left, no electricity, there is no drinking water, there is no wastewater treatment plant,” he added. In Vidauban, the local officer pulled out a driver from her vehicle, but the passenger could not be saved.
“The driver and her passenger drove on a rural road that was completely submerged,” the car fell into the ditch, said the mayor of Claude Pianetti on Facebook, writes France24.
The city and heavy rains hit the southwestern France and the day before, flooding the houses, damaging the railway and forcing hundreds of passengers in a rapid TGV train to evacuation in the middle of the night.
TGV, on the way from Toulouse to Paris on Monday night, was on the railway that moved when the ground was settled due to prolonged rain.
The train had to fit on the night near the city near the town of Tonneins, and more than 500 passengers were evacuated by buses.
According to the allegations, dozens of people, including firefighters, police and volunteers, participated in the rescue.
“We barely avoided a disaster, the rails were exposed, and TGV was suspended,” said the Mayor of Tonneins, Dante Rinaudo.
Another train that traffic between Toulouse and Paris was also stuck overnight in Agen, and passengers were transported to Toulouse on Tuesday morning.
The Spokesperson of the State Railway operator SNCF said that the traffic will be suspended “at least a few days” between Agena and Marmande in the southwest of France, which will influence TGV services between Bordeaux and Toulouse, writes Radio Sarajevo.
