UPDATE: Storms cause deadly flash floods in SW France

At least 13 people have died in flash floods that devastated towns and villages around Carcassonne, leaving a trail of overturned cars, damaged roads and collapsed homes.

This video, filmed by a drone flying around the town of Saint-Couat-d'Aude, between Carcassonne and Narbonne, shows flooded streets and sunken fields.

At least four people died overnight in the Aude village of Villegailhenc, local authorities said, while an elderly nun was swept to her death at a nunnery in the village of Villardonnel.

As reported earlier, about 1,000 people were evacuated in the area of Pezens, due to fears that a nearby dam could burst, and the river level in the town of Trebes rose eight metres (26ft) in five hours, officials said. Other towns - Estagnols, Istagnac and Cuxac d'Aude - were also evacuated.

The Aude remains on red alert for flood several hours after the storms passed, according to forecaster Météo France's latest weather bulletin after the equivalent of three months' of rainfall in just a few hours.

As well as the red alert in the Aude, orange alerts continue for Aveyron, the Hérault, and Pyrénées-Orientales.

The area was hit by autumn storms known as épisodes méditerranéen' - or 'épisodes cévenol' - due to their regularity in the mountainous Cévennes, these storms can bring several months worth of rain in a matter of hours leading to dangerous flash flooding.