At least four dead after storm brings flooding to southern France

After flooding caused by Storm Adam, at least four individuals have died in France, and one other has been injured.

Key points

• The Valencian administration approved on Tuesday an aid package of €23.5m (£20m) for those affected by Storm Adam.
• The deaths included two women aged 86 and 26 who were discovered drowned in a cellar in the Bouches-du-Rhône region.
• Members of the Military Emergencies Unit discovered the body of a woman in the town of Oliva, Valencia, during rescue operations on Monday.
• In the towns of Mouriès and Saint-Martin-de-Crau, between Montpellier and Marseille, dozens of residents were accommodated in emergency shelters after the floods hit.
• "The water has risen to unprecedented levels, " Jacques Witkowski, prefect of the Bouches-du-Rhône department, remarked in an official note on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, the storm triggered widespread flooding throughout southern France on Tuesday, inundating streets and disrupting transport.

Notably, the deaths included two women aged 86 and 26 who were discovered drowned in a cellar in the Bouches-du-Rhône region.

Corsica was additionally hit by severe weather. Local media documented that a 4×4 vehicle was swept away by floodwaters on Tuesday – one of the occupants escaped through a window, but another man was identified dead. Authorities have not published further details concerning the fourth death.

In the towns of Mouriès and Saint-Martin-de-Crau, between Montpellier and Marseille, dozens of residents were accommodated in emergency shelters after the floods hit. Authorities stated one person had been injured in that area.

Roads and train lines ‌in ⁠the area were additionally disrupted, Transport Minister Philippe Tabarot wrote in a post on X.

Witkowski expressed "a thought for all those who are in distress", adding: "We are mobilised at an exceptional level to resolve several issues."

More severe weather is forecast in France, with Storm Austen – a newly named weather system moving in from the Atlantic – projected to reach the country's north-west.

France's weather service, Météo-France, has issued an orange-level wind warning for five western departments from Thursday evening into Friday. The alert covers Côtes-d'Armor, Finistère, Morbihan, Ille-et-Vilaine and Manche.

Storm Adam had already brought severe flooding to eastern Spain, where at least three individuals were killed.

While helicopters were deployed to rescue residents stranded on rooftops, a number of towns along the Mediterranean coast were cut off by floodwaters.

Two other women were confirmed dead over ⁠the weekend. One woman's body was washed up on a beach in Sagunto, in the eastern region of Valencia, and another was swept away by floodwaters in Cabrera de Mar, near Barcelona.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez created a promise that the national administration would provide resources to support in reconstruction during a visit to the Valencia region on Tuesday.

For context, the Valencian administration approved on Tuesday an aid package of €23.5m (£20m) for those affected by Storm Adam.

In short, at least four dead after storm brings flooding to southern France is the central thread here, and readers can expect follow-up reporting as the picture becomes clearer.