Update: 19 dead in Riviera floods

THE provisional death toll from the weekend Riviera floods has risen to 19 deaths from this morning's feared 17 dead and four missing.

Divers found the body of a young woman in a flooded car park in Cannes while the body of a man in his 60s was found in a car park in Mandelieu.

A 90-year-old man reported missing in Antibes was traced to hospital this morning while Nice Matin said a young woman called her family to say she was safe with a friend after having been stranded on a train.

Alpes-Maritimes prefecture said the provisional death toll was now 19. However, many people were injured in the floods and some are in critical state.

AT least 17 people have been killed and several others are missing after a record amount of rain fell on the French Riviera on Saturday night.

17cm was recorded in just two hours in Cannes, where thousands of homes and businesses were left without power.

Among those killed were three elderly people who drowned at a retirement home in Biot, and three people whose car was trapped in a tunnel in Vallauris-Golfe Juan.

Five people died in the underground car park of an apartment block in Mandelieu-la-Napoule, near Cannes.

President Hollande and interior minister Bernard Cazeneuve visited Biot, near Nice, on Sunday. Prime minister Manuel Valls said he was "deeply moved" by the disaster.

The Paca region has made €5million in emergency funding available to help the clean-up exercise.

An emergency phone line has been set up for victims - 04 93 72 22 22.

The area will be officially classified as a natural disaster zone on Wednesday, a move that will speed up insurance claims.

Place du port à Nice #inondations #intemperies pic.twitter.com/WB7arFZjGS— Stephane (@Stephane_SNCF) October 3, 2015

The mayor of Cannes, David Lisnard, said there had been reports of looting from flooded shops and several people had been arrested. He said the flooding was so strong that some vehicles on coastal roads had been swept into the sea.

Hundreds of rail passengers were stranded on trains overnight because of flooded tracks. The SNCF handed out blankets and hot meals.

No trains were running on Sunday between Toulon and Nice, with only a partial service between Nice and Ventimiglia on the Italian border.

The A8 motorway has been partially reopened but Vinci Autoroutes said a lot of work still needed to be done to clear debris from the carriageway. Smaller roads were also blocked by flood water, fallen trees and rocks.

Cannes, ici Cannes. #Cannes #GareScnf #Intemperies #Inondations #Nice06 pic.twitter.com/ikHrWO4mBY— Julia (@JuliaaHuber) October 4, 2015

About 500 air passengers - mostly Brits and Danes - spent the night sleeping at Nice airport.

OGC Nice's home match against Nantes had to be called off at half-time because of a waterlogged pitch, and 350 spectators at Johnny Hallyday's concert at the Nikaia in Nice were unable to leave the venue and spent the night there.

Photo: Nice Matin/Twitter screengrab