UA family of four, including two children aged 4 and 13, were caught in floodwaters as they tried to drive across a submersible bridge over the Gardon in Dions, north of Nîmes, at around 11:30 pm on Saturday, (10:30 pm in Portugal) informed the city hall’s general secretary, Frédéric Loiseau, at a press conference.

And while the search continues for the father and two children, the 40-year-old mother, who was also in the car, was found by rescuers and taken to the hospital, he added.

Today, in Dions, a helicopter has been flying over the village and the still turbulent waters of the Gardon, helped by a large number of firefighters, in some cases using drones and dogs, to find the missing, noted AFP journalists.

Shortly after 5am today, the emergency services received a call from two motorists who said they were in difficulty and had lost contact, in Goudargues, in the same department as Gard. Around 30 firefighters, including six from water rescue, a drone and a helicopter from the Sécurité Civile are searching for the missing.

According to the initial investigation, the car was occupied by two women, aged 47 and 50, who were traveling to Spain.

A first motorist, of Belgian nationality, had already been reported missing on Saturday night, having been dragged while trying to cross a bridge, at around 6:45 pm, in Gagnières (Gard), despite the road being closed by the municipality. and a local police officer asked the driver not to enter the bridge.

In the neighboring department of Ardèche, a man has also been missing since Saturday night in the village of Saint-Martin-de Valamas, following bad weather, with searches continuing to try to find him, the prefecture said. According to a Gendarmerie source, the man in question was the manager of a hydroelectric plant who had gone to check his installation.

Gard and six other departments were placed on orange alert on Saturday due to very heavy rain linked to Storm Monica, which swept across a large part of southeastern France.

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Source: https://www.noticiasaominuto.com/mundo/2518536/sete-desaparecidos-apos-mau-tempo-no-sudeste-de-franca

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