PARIS (AP) — France’s prime minister said Friday that firefighters and other rescue workers have been involved in about 2,300 operations, some life-saving, in what appears to be the worst flooding in central France in 40 years.
Michel Barnier visited the French authorities’ crisis center in Paris and said that such heavy rain had never occurred in many people’s memories. More than 1,000 people were evacuated. Most of them were able to return home on Friday.
Barnier also praised an alert system, used for the first time, that sent text messages urging people in affected areas to postpone or cancel their planned trips and stay in a safe place.
French weather agency Meteo France said some local areas in the Ardèche and Lozère regions received as much as 700 millimeters (27.5 inches) of rain in 48 hours.
The national railway company SNCF stopped regional trains between the cities of Lyon and Saint-Étienne on Thursday because the tracks were impassable. Local train services will remain disrupted for several days, the report said.
A main road between the two cities was also flooded and remained closed on Friday.
Meteo France lifted the red alert for bad weather on Friday morning, but still warned of possible heavy rain and flooding in southwestern France.
