Storm Adam floods kill four in southern France after three deaths in Spain

At least four people have died in flooding caused by Storm Adam in southern France, according to local authorities cited by the BBC and RTL. One person was reported missing.

The Bouches-du-Rhône prefecture said on Wednesday evening that three people had died in the department and one had been injured. A 75-year-old man swept away by floodwater was found dead in Istres on Tuesday, the prefecture said. Firefighters said two women, aged 86 and 26, were found drowned in a cellar in Lançon-Provence, and that an investigation into the circumstances was under way.

In Haute-Corse, a four-wheel-drive vehicle was swept away by the Fium’orbu river at Ghisonaccia on Tuesday. One occupant escaped through a window and another man was found dead, RTL reported. Rescuers were searching for a missing person at Roquebrune-sur-Argens in the Var on Wednesday.

“The water has risen to unprecedented levels,” said Jacques Witkowski, prefect of the Bouches-du-Rhône and the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region. The prefecture said Saint-Martin-de-Crau and Arles had power cuts linked to the floods, and that 250 people were housed in reception centres in Saint-Martin-de-Crau. Transport Minister Philippe Tabarot said roads and train lines in the area were disrupted.

Storm Adam had earlier brought flooding to eastern Spain, where at least three people died, the BBC reported. The Valencian regional government approved an aid package of €23.5 million on Tuesday.

Météo-France has issued an orange wind warning for five western departments, Côtes-d’Armor, Finistère, Morbihan, Ille-et-Vilaine and Manche, from Thursday evening into Friday as a new system, Storm Austen, approaches.