Red alerts lifted but floods remain
Light aircraft still missing and disruption to rail services could last for days.
METEO France has lifted its red alert warning for floods and heavy rain but seven departments remain on orange alert.
La Nièvre, la Saône-et-Loire, l'Allier, la Loire, le Puy-de-Dôme and both Corsican departments are still receiving heavy rain.
Interior Minister Michèle Alliot-Marie has written to prefects asking them to speed up the process of declaring national emergency – a status which affects the insurance claims of people within the zones.
Charity Secours Populaire has launched an appeal to help those affected by flooding.
Ecology Minister Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet has visited Rive-sur-Gier in the Loire - the commune worst affected by floods over the weekend.
Flooding in the Loire has caused damage to roads and disrupted rail services. A spokesman for the SNCF said it would take several days for normal timetables to resume.
There is still no sign of a light aircraft which was reported missing with four people on board on Sunday.
The plane was flying from Romans-sur-Isère in la Drôme to Aix-les-Milles in the Bouches-du-Rhône.
Several helicopters and 250 people are involved in the search which is concentrated towards at the southern end of the planes flight paths where the passengers’ mobile phones were last detected.
In Marseilles, shops, businesses and homes were flooded and vehicles damaged when sudden heavy rain turned streets into rivers as water poured down hills into the old port.
Photo: Corsica, still on orange alert, received record rainfall earlier this year.
Credit: Afp/Stephan Agostini
