Storms in France and Italy: German hiking group missing - forces swept away by floods

There is a red alert in France. Storm low "Alex" did not spare Italy either.

Several people are missing after torrential rains and floods.

• Severe storms left severe damage in France and northern Italy.

• Storm "Alex"

  hit the Atlantic coast on Friday and caused a dramatic situation in southern France and northern Italy on Saturday night.

• Several people are missing after torrential rains and floods.

Update from October 3, 5:16 p.m

.: Storm “Alex”

not only in

.

In Piedmont, numerous villages in which houses and streets were devastated were cut off from the outside world and without water and electricity, as the authorities of the region announced.

In the regions of Piedmont and Liguria, 300 liters of rain fell per square meter in 24 hours.

Cars were simply swept away in the masses of water.

A 53-year-old firefighter died in an operation in the Aosta Valley.

17 people were missing in north-western Italy on Saturday.

The Piedmont region was particularly hard hit.

16 people were missing in the province of Cuneo.

"The situation is dramatic," said the fire department in the province, according to the Italian agency Ansa.

150 firefighters are on duty.

Storm in Italy - German trekking group missing

Even a

did not initially contact a hotelier who was supposed to pick them up at Terme di Valdieri after a tour of several days, according to the dpa news agency.

As reported by the Italian newspaper La Stampa, according to the hotelier, six Germans are out and about in the Gresso Valley.

The situation is critical there, but his guests have only agreed to return for Sunday.

In his opinion, “missing” would not be the right term, emphasized the hotelier in an interview with La Stampa.

They also do not even know that they are being searched for.

The mobile phone coverage in the mountains is very poor.

The Germans are said to be on a photo tour through the mountains.

There is no set schedule for taking pictures of unspoiled nature.

A freelance photographer who lives in Bavaria leads the group, the host continues.

They should be very well equipped and not people who venture into dangerous areas.

In any case, the hotelier drives to the agreed meeting point on Sunday if the six are not found beforehand.

In the

, some places were temporarily cut off from traffic after landslides and bridge damage. 

Damage was also

reported

from

.

In Ventimiglia on the border with France, Mayor Gaetano Scullino said, in view of the floods, "there has not been such a disaster since 1958".

There were heavy rains and floods on Saturday night in the Italian regions of Lombardy and Veneto.

In Venice, locals and tourists alike marveled at the annual “

”

flood

.

Mobile dykes held back the floods this year.

In November last year, a record flood of 1.87 meters was measured in the lagoon city.

In the area around Nice in southern France, eight people were missing on Saturday, ten more were thought to be missing, as the fire department announced.

Among the missing were two firefighters whose vehicle was swept away by the floods during an operation.

Chaos after storms in southern France and northern Italy

Update from October 3, 2020, 11:39 a.m.:

In the south of France,

after the heavy

with torrential rain and floods

.

According to current knowledge, there are

and three allegedly missing, the fire brigade told the AFP news agency on Saturday.

Several villages in the hinterland of the

were

.

Prime Minister Jean Castex announced a visit to the disaster area.

Severe floods with

were also reported

from Italy

.

According to the fire brigade, the missing were two firefighters whose vehicle was

during an operation

.

A police officer who was initially missing was found safely.

In a village around 50 kilometers north of Nice, two residents who had fled to the roof of their house from the rising flood were also missing - the house collapsed, according to the authorities, and the two people disappeared in the floods.

A missing person's report is only considered secure if witnesses have seen the person concerned disappear.

In the case of the allegedly missing, however, there is no specific information about the disappearance.

Prime Minister Castex

announced that he would visit the region with Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin as soon as conditions allowed.

The state stands by the side of those affected and helpers, wrote Castex on the online service Twitter.

Je me rendrai auprès de nos forces de sécurité et secours dans les Alpes-Maritimes avec le ministre de l'Intérieur, dès que les conditions opérationnelles le permettront.

L'État est aux côtés des sinistrés et de tous ceux qui leur portent secours avec courage et dévouement.

- Jean Castex (@JeanCASTEX) October 3, 2020

Dozens of people were brought to safety from the floods, according to the fire department.

A representative of the Alpes-Maritimes prefecture spoke of an "unprecedented situation", large areas were affected by flooding and several villages were

.

in the village of Saint-Martin-Vésubie

.

A local member of parliament reported that the local gas station had been swept away by the floods and that several houses had been badly damaged.

There was a risk of

in several places

, so that many roads remained closed on Saturday.

At the Turini Pass, about ten kilometers from Bollène-la Vésubie, several fire engines had to wait before they could continue into the disaster area, as an AFP correspondent observed.

Several of the fire engines were loaded with boats.

Red alert - Atlantic coast hit by storm "Alex" - 100,000 houses without electricity

Update from October 2

: After the autumn storm "Alex" passed through, around 80,000 people in the north-west French coastal region of Brittany are without electricity.

Trees fell over in many communities and people were not harmed after an initial assessment, as the prefecture of the Breton department of Morbihan announced on Friday.

On the

off the coast of Brittany, gusts of up to

per

measured

according to the radio news channel Franceinfo

.

The French weather service Météo France had already warned of "Alex" on Thursday.

Heavy rains are expected in south-east France.

In the region around Nice, schools remained closed, as Franceinfo reported.

J'appelle les laurentins à la plus EXTRÊME VIGILANCE, les averses sont conséquentes dans le moyen-haut pays.

The phenomena de ruissellement et crues sont donc à craindre dans les prochaines heures.

Tenez vous à l'écart du Var et de la mer #AlerteRouge # Meteo06 #Alex pic.twitter.com/FnrQMbbSi3

- Joseph SEGURA (@JosephSeguraSLV) October 2, 2020

France on alert: violent storm expected on the Atlantic coast - effects in Germany possible

First report from October 1, 2020:

Paris / Munich - In

, an impending

people on the

on

.

In the night from

, the storm called

is said to

sweep over the coastal regions on the Atlantic

with wind speeds of

.

The storm could therefore be described

as a "hurricane"

in terms of

*.

The

announced the impending

on Thursday.

The region of

in north-western

with the cities of

,

and

particularly affected by storm "Alex"

.

In the

particular,

warnings are issued against very strong winds.

The

area is marked in red

on the

map

.

There is "absolute vigilance" at night, it says on the page.

🔴 1 dpt en #vigilanceRouge

🔶 8 dpts en #vigilanceOrange

Restez informés on https://t.co/rJ24zzmmy4 pic.twitter.com/djnRk0mVWY

- VigiMétéoFrance (@VigiMeteoFrance) October 1, 2020

In addition, the

warned of numerous

.

In addition,

also to be feared.

On the coast, the weather service warns of

.

In the

is especially on

with

expected.

In

, too,

could make it

uncomfortable, as

reported

 by

,

among others

, and

also 

spreads it

on

: “The storm low makes a few 'laps of honor' over France ', it says there,“ and brings it until Sunday sometimes large amounts of rain. ”The current

developments

in

can be found in our Germany weather.

In August the low raged Kirsten in Bavaria.

Franconia was particularly hard hit.

There was even a warning from the German Weather Service for large parts of Bavaria.

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List of rubric lists: © Twitter screenshot / Vigili del Fuoco