Pictured: Bayonne, southwestern France, where cars were submerged by water in flooded streets on December 10, 2021. The flooding comes after heavy rains lashed a large swath of southwest France overnight, leading to evacuations of dozens of residents and rivers overflowing their banks
Heavy rains lashed a large swath of southwest France and northern Spain overnight, leading to evacuations of dozens of residents and rivers overflowing their banks. One person was reported dead in Spain.
Warm southern winds that have melted snowbanks in the Pyrenees mountains in recent days also contributed to the flooding, which could persist for several days.
Several regions have an 'orange' warning in place until at least Sunday, with local media reporting that one region - Pyrénées-Atlantiques - saw almost five inches of rain at 4am in Friday.
'Despite one person injured, we have no serious accidents or deaths, with firefighters responding to more than 250 calls in the past few hours,' Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin told journalists after discussions with local officials.
The Meteo France weather agency also warned of high avalanche risks in the Pyrenees, which separate France from Spain, where local flooding was also reported.
The regional government in Spain's Navarre region said a woman died Friday in her car after a landslide that followed two weeks of heavy rains.
Pictures from the Spanish city of Zaragoza showed the banks of the river Ebro, that runs through the centre and past a cathedral, bclose to bursting.
According to Euro Weekly News, a man in Spain was killed in the town of Sunbilla when the roof of a shed collapsed on to the top of his vehicle.
Eric Spitze, the French government's top official for the Aquitaine region that includes Bordeaux, said that while the situation was 'under control,' forecasts of more rain to come could see floodwaters rise further in several towns and cities.
In the coastal city of Bayonne, loudspeakers carried warnings for crowds of people who gathered along the banks of the Nive river to take pictures of the torrents.
Authorities cancelled a Friday night rugby match in Bayonne between Aviron Bayonnais and US Montauban, and Mayor Jean-Rene Etchegaray also urged businesses along the Nive river to close.
Classes were called off at several schools and some roads were closed, while train services were disrupted and electricity cuts were reported at hundreds of homes across the region.
Further inland, the flooding caused a landslide in the Pyrenees village of Itxassou, with one resident, a 37-year-old who gave his name as Jean-Claude, said his home was swamped in 16 inches of water - for the second time in seven years.
'In 2014, they said it was once-in-a-century flooding, and now it's already happening again,' he told AFP.
Long gone has yesterday, tomorrow is straight out of Hell, and don't expect the authorities to be in a position to help you.