Cars overturned, schools off-limits: storms batter southern France

Special water rescue teams on stand-by as two months of rain falls in just six hours in parts of the Gard. Red alert lifted but six departments remain on orange alert

The department of Gard was placed under a red storm warning this morning, while six other departments were on orange alert
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[Update on September 14 at 17:00: Two people have now been reported missing in the towns of Aigues-Vives and Uchaud (Gard).]

Gard in south-east France (Occitanie) was placed under a red storm and flooding alert by Météo France this morning, as nearly two months’ worth of rain fell over six hours.

Gard had already been placed under an orange alert along with Aveyron, Haute-Garonne, Hérault, Lot, Tarn and Tarn-et-Garonne earlier on. Hérault's alert level has now been downgraded to yellow.

Read more: 82 departments in south, central and north France on storm warnings

Around 184mm fell in three hours in Saint-Dionisy to the west of Nîmes, with 111mm coming down in a single hour.

France’s state weather service only imposes a red warning when weather conditions are considered “dangerous and of an exceptional level of intensity.”

The red alert means that people should stay at home or in a secure building and avoid using their phones or driving their cars if possible.

Gard has now been taken off the red warning, but it still on orange alert, the risk of storms remaining "moderate to strong."