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| France floods: Search continues for missing on Riviera | France floods: Search continues for missing on Riviera |
| (about 1 hour later) | |
| Four people are still missing after violent storms and flash floods on the French Riviera left at least 17 people dead, including one Briton. | Four people are still missing after violent storms and flash floods on the French Riviera left at least 17 people dead, including one Briton. |
| Thousands of homes are still without electricity after heavy rain on Saturday evening sent torrents of water and mud through several towns. | Thousands of homes are still without electricity after heavy rain on Saturday evening sent torrents of water and mud through several towns. |
| The UK Foreign Office has said that one British national is among the dead. | The UK Foreign Office has said that one British national is among the dead. |
| French President Francois Hollande has announced a state of "natural disaster" in the affected region. | French President Francois Hollande has announced a state of "natural disaster" in the affected region. |
| Forecasters have faced criticism over the effectiveness of weather alerts. | |
| Meanwhile police arrested nine people suspected of looting during the chaos that followed the floods, according to officials. | |
| Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve told Europe 1 (in French) on Monday that two people had already been sent before a judge while seven others remained in custody. | |
| He praised the efforts of emergency services, saying that more than 550 firefighters and 300 police officers were still responding to the disaster. | |
| 'Apocalyptic' | |
| The area is estimated to have received more than 10% of its average yearly rainfall in two days alone. Rivers burst their banks, sending water coursing into nearby towns and cities. | |
| Two people are missing in Cannes, with searches continuing for two others in Antibes and Mandelieu-la-Napoule, according to reports. | |
| The largest number of victims was in the city of Mandelieu-la-Napoule, where seven people died. They were trapped by water as they tried to retrieve their cars from underground car parks, local media said. | |
| Three elderly people drowned when their retirement home in Biot, near the city of Antibes, was flooded. | |
| Visiting the home on Sunday, President Hollande offered his condolences and urged residents to remain cautious, saying: "It's not over." | |
| Three others in their 60s and 70s were also killed in Cannes and Antibes, and several people were trapped in their cars in tunnels elsewhere as the waters rose. | |
| "We have lived through an apocalyptic situation that we have never experienced before," Eric Ciotti, president of the Alpes-Maritimes department, tweeted following the disaster. | |
| Mr Ciotti also questioned the use of an orange alert to warn residents, rather than the more serious red alert. | |
| Christian Estrosi, the deputy mayor of Nice, added his criticism in an interview with BFMTV on Monday, saying the area received so many orange alerts that people had stopped taking all the necessary precautions. | |
| But he denied any fallout with weather forecasters, who insisted they did not have the technical ability to predict the intensity of the storms in time. | |
| Are you in the area? Have you been affected? You can share your experience by emailing haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk. | Are you in the area? Have you been affected? You can share your experience by emailing haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk. |
| Please include a contact number if you are willing to speak to a BBC journalist. You can also contact us in the following ways: | Please include a contact number if you are willing to speak to a BBC journalist. You can also contact us in the following ways: |
| Or use the form below | Or use the form below |