Posted on Sep 21, 2020 at 3:50 PM
The search for the two people missing following the heavy rains that hit the Gard this weekend resumed this Monday morning with dog teams and white water rescuers.
A 64-year-old caregiver, who was driving Saturday in the Pont d’Hérault area, has been missing since Saturday. His vehicle was located several kilometers downstream from the place where it was taken by the Hérault river.
The second missing person is a 56-year-old man who left for a run on Saturday in the mountains, in the same area, Commander Jean-Charles Dussère told AFP on Monday morning for the Gard firefighters. The research takes place in the municipalities of Pont d’Hérault and Mandagout.
While the entire department has fallen back into the yellow vigilance zone, the emergency services resumed their interventions on Monday with the population, with some 500 households still deprived of electricity on the slopes of Mount Aigoual according to figures from Enedis. Interventions are also planned to restore telephone lines in the municipalities of Saumane and Saint-André-de-Valborgne.
State of natural disaster
The prefect of Gard went to the scene on Monday morning, to meet the victims and assess the extent of the damage caused by the downpours on Saturday on the foothills of the Cévennes massif. Swollen by the rains, rivers like the Gardon have experienced rapid flooding, rising six meters in two hours, forcing the authorities to evacuate several hundred people as a precaution.
“The mayors must […] can as of tomorrow (Monday) and Tuesday ask for the state of natural disaster ”, declared Sunday the Minister of the Interior Gérald Darmanin, during his trip to the town of Anduze with the Minister of Ecological Transition Barbara Pompili.
The so-called “Cevennes” bad weather episodes generally occur in the fall, when the Mediterranean Sea is the hottest, thus promoting strong evaporation. These hot, humid and unstable air masses move northwards, causing heavy rains.
(source AFP)
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