Parts of southern France were left underwater to start the week after a robust storm unleashed several months’ worth of rain in just two days across the region.
AccuWeather forecasters say torrential downpours targeted southern France Sunday and Monday. This triggered a deluge that led to significant travel disruptions, more than 1,000 emergency calls and at least one fatality, according to multiple news outlets in France.
Videos showed harrowing scenes of cars stuck in raging floodwaters while aerial images captured swollen rivers inching toward the top of a bridge around the port city of Marseille. Some residents around the area were forced to evacuate.
One person was killed on a highway in the Bouches-du-Rhône department when a truck and car collided during the adverse weather on Monday, according to La Provence.
The areas in the south of France that were in the bull’s-eye for the worst impacts included the departments of Bouches-du-Rhône, Var and Alpes-Maritimes. All three departments border the Mediterranean Sea.
Marseille, located in the Bouches-du-Rhône department, recorded about three months’ worth of rainfall in just two days. According to Météo-France, the French meteorological service, Marseille received a staggering 7.64 inches of rain Sunday and Monday.
To put that number in perspective, the city typically records about 3.33 inches of rain on average for the entire month of October. According to AccuWeather forecasters, the combined average rainfall for the area for the three months from September to November is 7.58 inches.
This amount of torrential rainfall in such a short period of time quickly overwhelmed nearby roadways, rivers and streams.