Heavy rains and floods in France by Barbora Misakova

Raining here, raining there: torrential rains are tormenting whole Europe. Houses and roads are destroyed, trees and lawns are flooded, but some regions of Europe have to face even more catastrophic scenarios. In France’s southern Cote d’Azur region at least 15 people have been killed and another two are still missing. Rescuers are working day and night just to help hundreds of people trapped in their vehicles, houses or on rooftops. Hugues Parant, top official for the Var department said: “We haven’t seen anything like this in a decade.” There are more than 200,000 houses with no electricity, but what is more, there are people’s lives en! dangered. Rising waters also trapped a high speed train travelling from Nice to Lille with 300 passengers on board. As some three-kilometers of tracks were completely flooded, the SNCF rail authority halted all train services between Toulon and Saint-Raphael. Since Tuesday more than 30 centimeters (what represents 12 inches) of rain had fallen, caused that water levels rose to alarming levels in the streets. The head of the emergency operation in Draguignan said: “This morning, we woke up to find a city that was devastated, extremely battered with overturned cars floating in the streets, collapsed roads and gutted houses.” Even though water levels had dropped on Wednesday, rains were still battering the nearby towns. President Nicolas Sarkozy expressed condolences for the victims’ families and support for rescue teams, but the fact that “ordinary” rains can kill so many people in 21st century is simply horrible.

related story (sg! x17605): http://www.france24.com/en/20100616-deadly-floods-southern-c...

by Barbora Misakova for Cantell TV (http://cantell.tv)

Cantell TV is the fastest growing provider of digital broadcasting coupled with telecommunications, allowing people to easily control, view, upload and share digital content through proprietary interface coupled with free phone calls. Cantell TV is committed to delivering infinite choices to your world of entertainment at the tip of your fingers.