Four departments on flood alert after storms

Four departments in southwest France remain on heightened flood alert on Monday, December 16, after three people died and thousands of homes were left without power in storms over the weekend.

The body of a man was found in Adour river, 25km east of Dax on Sunday afternoon, bringing the death toll from the weekend's storms to three, following hours of heavy rain, which saw the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department put on red weather alert on Friday evening.

The Gers, Gironde, Lot-et-Garonne and Landes are on orange flood alert, as they have been since Sunday. Numerous roads near the Garonne, the Adour and the Midouze rivers have been closed, including a major route in Agen which runs alongside the Garonne.

Authorities have warned motorists not to try to navigate flooded roads - and have positioned rapid response teams in key areas to assist any drivers caught out.

At the height of the weekend's storms, some 400,000 households across several regions were without power, officials reported.

Read more: Man dies in southwest France as flood alerts remain