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France, Germany and Austria hit by fatal flash floods France faces more rain after storms kill nine people across Europe
(about 3 hours later)
At least four people have been killed in flash floods caused by heavy rain lashing France, Germany and Austria. France braces for more torrential rain after a week of storms that have killed nine people across northern Europe, submerged streets, closed schools and left people stranded on rooftops.
The flooding cut roads, stranded people on rooftops and forced schools to close their doors. Weather forecasters have warned of more rain and rising waters ahead. Eight people have died in Germany and six days of torrential rain in France have caused the Seine and other rivers to burst their banks, forcing the evacuation of thousands of people in riverside towns south of Paris and in the Loire Valley.
Three people who had been trapped in a house at Simbach am Inn in southern Germany were found dead, local authorities said, and police warned several other people could be on the ground floor of the building. The body of an 86-year-old woman was found in her flooded house in Souppes-sur-Loing in central France, where some towns have been hit by the worst flooding in more than 100 years.
In the small town of Montargis, the water had risen so high that only the tops of cars could be seen peeking above the surface along the high street.
Related: Severe floods around Europe after torrential rain – in picturesRelated: Severe floods around Europe after torrential rain – in pictures
The body of an 86-year-old woman was found in her flooded house in Souppes-sur-Loing in central France, parts of which have been hit by the worst flooding in more than 100 years. Rescue workers have responded to about 10,000 calls and evacuated more than 5,000 people since the deluge began at the weekend.
In France’s Loire Valley, water pooled in front of the Chateau de Chambord, a 16th century Renaissance castle. “The situation remains tense and difficult in several areas. We still have many concerns,” said the French prime minister, Manuel Valls, as he visited a crisis control centre in the flooded town of Nemours, south of Paris.
In one incident in southern Bavaria emergency services rescued 20 members of a school group when a boat trip on the Regen river ran into trouble with strong currents sparked by a sudden storm, authorities said. Residents were evacuated after the Loing river burst its banks and submerged the high street. Rescuers had to use dinghies to reach stranded residents in streets turned into rivers.
South of Paris in the town of Montargis, the deluge turned one street into a canal, forcing locals to don boots to wade through the floodwaters. “In 60 years of living here I have never seen this,” Sylvette Gounaud, a shopworker, said. “The centre of town is totally under water, all the shops are destroyed.”
In southern Germany the rains left trucks jackknifed on flooded roads at Simbach am Inn. In southern Germany, dangerously swollen rivers have killed several people and severely damaged towns in Bavaria.
Four people had died and a dozen were injured in the southern Baden-Wuerttemberg region between Sunday and Monday, authorities said. Rescue workers found the bodies of three people in a house in Simbach am Inn on Wednesday and police warned that several other people were missing.
On Bavaria’s south-eastern border with Austria, firefighters and other emergency services were dispatched to stricken towns where roads and bridges were cut and some residents had to seek refuge from the waters on rooftops. The force of the water upended cars and washed away parts of the streets, with a thick layer of mud left throughout the town by the subsiding water. Huge piles of wood and rubbish deposited by the torrent were visible next to badly damaged homes and offices.
“The floods came so quickly that people had to escape to the roofs of their houses,” a spokesman for the Lower Bavaria regional police said, adding that many streets were submerged. A woman’s body was discovered caught on a tree trunk in the neighbouring town of Julbach, police said.
In the town of Triftern around 50 children and 25 adults bunked down in their school on Wednesday after being cut off by the waters. On Bavaria’s south-eastern border with Austria, some residents scrambled on to rooftops to escape the waters on Tuesday.
Over the border in Austria heavy rain lashed the Salzburg region, flooding several roads and forcing several schools to announce closures for Thursday. “The floods came so quickly that people had to escape to the roofs of their houses,” a spokesman for the lower Bavaria police said.
In Paris many promenades along the Seine were closed due to the high waters, which the mayor’s office predicted could rise by another metre in the coming days. Four people had also been killed earlier this week in the southern Baden-Württemberg region.
Fire services had attended 10,000 call-outs across the country since the rain began on Sunday, according to authorities. The outbreak of severe weather began at the weekend with lightning strikes that left several people, including children, injured in Paris and western Germany.
Schools were closed and thousands of people were evacuated in central regions because of the flooding, which weather forecaster Meteo France described as “exceptional, worse than the floods of 1910”. In France, forecaster Meteo France described the situation as “exceptional, worse than the floods of 1910”, when even central Paris was flooded.
The prime minister, Manuel Valls, was expected on Thursday visit Nemours, 50 miles to the south of Paris, where residents had to be evacuated after the Loing river burst its banks. In the centre of the capital, the swollen Seine had flooded paths normally used by tourists and was washing around a replica of the Statue of Liberty.
“In 60 years of living here I have never seen this,” said Sylvette Gounaud, a shopworker in Nemours. “The centre of town is totally under water, all the shops are destroyed.” Authorities were particularly concerned about the rising waters in Longjumeau, 16 miles (25km) south of Paris. About 200 people there spent the night in a gymnasium after being evacuated, and Valls said at least 2,000 more people need to be moved from their homes in the town.
The neighbouring Loiret region, home to the Chateau de Chambord, received its average six-week rainfall in just three days. In the Loire valley, a lake of flood water gathered in front of the Château de Chambord, causing a watery reflection of the much-visited 16th century castle.
The Loiret region where the chateau is located has seen the average rainfall of six weeks in just three days.
The French Open tennis got back on track Wednesday after rain washed out play in Paris earlier in the week, but players hoping to reach the finals face a heavy schedule of matches.
In Austria, where schools and roads have been flooded in recent days, the flood waters receded.