At least 11 people have died in violent rainstorms in the south of France. Rail services were suspended in the Gard region, where torrential rain forced rivers to overflow their banks and cut electricity in 40,000 homes, officials said.
The army rushed in 300 soldiers to join 500 rescue workers already in the area as authorities declared a state of alert in the Gard and nearby Herault and Vaucluse regions.
Police in Nimes said at least 11 people died and three others were reported missing, feared drowned, after a series of storms dropped as much rainfall in several hours as usually fall in six months.
More than 1,100 people from about 100 villages in the Gard region were evacuated as streams and rivers in the area overflowed their banks, flooding cellars and streets.
A number of bridges collapsed and 80% of roads were impassable. Sections of a motorway connecting Paris with the south of France were under more than a foot of water.
A firefighter died in a Herault hospital after being swept away by floods when he went to help a couple trapped in their car on a flooded road.
The army also sent armoured vehicles capable of driving in up to three feet of water to clear the roads and assist stranded motorists.
Pierre Alexandre Teuile, a top official in the Gard region, where Nimes is located, said that 1,100 people from more than a dozen communities had been relocated to temporary shelters set up by the Red Cross and local mayors' offices. Some 250 were evacuated by helicopter.
The area around Nimes was the hardest hit. Five of the deaths occurred in separate towns around the city.
The body of a child was found near Ales, a town north of Nimes. Officials did not give the child's age.
AP /PA