Three people have been killed and two others are missing after thunderstorms and heavy rainfall caused flooding in southern France.
An elderly couple were found dead in their car in the Cavalière area, reported local media, with local prosecutors confirming their car was swept away by floodwaters.
The woman's body remained trapped inside the wreckage, Toulon public prosecutor Samuel Finielz told AFP.
See also: Everything we know about the floods in southern France
An investigation has been opened to determine the cause of death, he said, adding that “the situation was quite difficult on the ground”.
Another woman was found dead in her vehicle in the commune of Vidauban.
Heavy rainfall caused widespread damage to the region, flooding streets and causing power outages.
French President Emmanuel Macron confirmed the deaths following “violent storms” in the southeast of the country and sent his condolences to the victims’ families and loved ones.
“We will be there, with the rescue forces, to get through the next few hours. There to rebuild,” he vowed in a post on X.
Gil Bernardi, mayor of Le Lavandou, compared the flooding to “scenes of war”, warning that roads had been torn up and bridges ripped down.
Intempéries dans le Var : scène de dévastation dans une villa de Cavalière, au Lavandou pic.twitter.com/TJc1eStHZE
— ici Provence (@ici_provence) May 21, 2025
“It was a really violent, vicious, incomprehensible phenomenon,” Mr Bernardi told BFM television.
“There is nothing left, no electricity, no drinking water, no sewage treatment plant,” he added.
Meanwhile, the Mayor of Vidauban Claude Pianetti confirmed that someone had drowned after a car had tried to drive down a submerged country road and fallen into a ditch.
The driver of the car was saved by an official who was nearby but the passenger could not be saved, the mayor wrote on Facebook.
He added that emergency services, including specialist divers, remained at the scene trying to get the vehicle out of a stream.
A day earlier, hundreds of passengers also had to be evacuated from a high-speed train following hailstorms and heavy rain in southwest France, France24 reported.
“We narrowly avoided a disaster, the tracks were exposed and the TGV was suspended,” the mayor of Tonneins, Dante Rinaudo, told AFP.
He described “avalanches of water” in the town that flooded cellars and homes.
