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FLOODS

Three missing after floods in Switzerland

Swiss authorities in the southeastern canton of Grisons said Saturday that they were searching for three people missing after heavy flooding the previous day in the region.

Three missing after floods in Switzerland
Fire fighters prepare to leave from the operational control centre in Roveredo. Photo: Piero CRUCIATTI/AFP.

Police said a woman feared to have been swept away had been found alive after being caught in torrential rain and thunderstorms that caused landslides and flooding in the Mesolcina valley and forces dozens of residents to be briefly evacuated.

“Intensive searches are under way for the three people still listed as missing,” police said in a statement, adding they were likely at home when floodwaters swept away three houses along with three vehicles.

Local media reports said the missing included an elderly woman and a couple.

One police rescue vehicle was also swept away by the floodwaters but police said two colleagues inside were able to get out and swim to safety.

Police urged people to stay away from the worst-hit areas and not attempt their own rescue searches.

Several villages were left without electricity and drinking water following the storm, local reports said.

Recent days have seen other areas of Switzerland, including the ski resort of Zermatt, affected by heavy rainfall with several roads cut off and rail services hit.

President Viola Amherd posted on X that her thoughts were with those people affected.

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STORMS

Seven dead after storms lash France, Switzerland

Ferocious storms and torrential rains that lashed France, Switzerland and Italy this weekend have left five people dead, local authorities said on Sunday.

Seven dead after storms lash France, Switzerland

Three people in their 70s and 80s died in France’s northeastern Aube region on Saturday when a tree crushed the car they were travelling in during fierce winds, the local authority told AFP.

A fourth passenger was in critical care, it added.

In neighbouring Switzerland, two people have died and a third is missing after torrential rains triggered a landslide in the southeast, police in the Italian-speaking canton of Ticino said.

According to local daily La Regione, the dead were two women who were on holiday in the Alpine region.

Emergency services were assessing the best way to evacuate 300 people who had arrived for a football tournament in Peccia, while almost 70 more were being evacuated from a holiday camp in the village of Mogno.

The poor weather was making rescue work particularly difficult, police had said earlier, with several valleys inaccessible and cut off from the electricity network.

The federal alert system also said part of the canton was without drinking water.

In the western canton of Valais, the civil security services said “several hundred” people were evacuated and roads closed after the Rhone and its tributaries overflowed in different locations.

Extreme rainfall also struck southeastern Switzerland last weekend, leaving one dead and causing major damage.

In northern Italy’s Aosta Valley, internet users shared images of spectacular floods and swollen rivers rushing down mountain slopes.

Scientists say climate change driven by human activity is increasing the severity, frequency and length of extreme weather events such as floods and storms.

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