A 70-year-old German national has gone missing and 1,600 people, most of them campers, have been forced to evacuate after flash floods swept through southern France, local authorities said.
Heavy rains have poured down on the French department of Gard, about 150 km (90 miles) northwest of the city of Marseilles, bursting riverbanks and forcing the evacuation of children from the vacation camp of Saint-Julien-de-Peyrolas.
About 120 gendarmes, 300 firemen and four helicopters were deployed in the area and emergency services rescued a total of 119 children, local authorities said in a statement.
Flash floods heavily disturbed summer activities in southern France as storms poured over eight departments.
French weather service Meteo France put most of southern France in orange alert, meaning high risk of rainfall that could be dangerous, according to its website.
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