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Communities in southern France are bracing for thunderstorms days after flooding devastated towns, leaving 1,000 people in one area without drinking water.
Residents in Le Lavandou, a commune in the southeastern region of Var, where three people were killed and infrastructure was heavily damaged in the floods, have been warned it could be until next weekend to have drinking water restored, France Bleu reported.
As authorities work round-the-clock to restore water supplies and address the major damage to roads, bridges and train tracks, the region has now been put under another weather warning.
The yellow warning for thunderstorms and possible flooding will be in place from 7 until 10pm in the Var region and the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence region neighbouring it to the north. The Alpes Maritimes region on the southeast tip of France will be under the same warning from 4pm.
Flooding in the region is not forecast to be as severe as earlier in the week, where the storms have left Var residents mourning the death of three pensioners who were swept away while in their vehicles in two separate incidents.
One 81-year-old woman was swept away in her vehicle in Vidauban, and died after her vehicle dropped into a ditch on a submerged country road. She was the passenger of the car - but the driver survived after a dramatic rescue effort by plumber Olivier De Vecchi.
"I ran out of the car. By the time I arrived, the car had started to float under the current,” Mr De Vecchi told BFMTV. “I ran all the way for at least 70 meters. I saw the two women in the car. I told them to get out, but they told me they couldn't.”
Only the driver was able to get out of the car by holding onto the branches of a tree. "I told her to stay where she was, that I would come back, she replied that she was in pain and that she was going to let go, I said 'no, above all, don't let go'”, he said.
"I ran behind the estate, there was a large eight-meter-long tube, I put it across the river, that allowed me to get to the water safely to rescue this woman.”
The passenger died, Mr De Vecchie said. "At the time, I didn't realise it".
Frederique, a Vidauban resident, thought she would die when her car became submerged on a country road.
"My car took off, it slid, it was like I was in a boat,” she told BFMTV. The water was getting higher and higher. I called the police, the fire brigade and my boyfriend, but no one came and the water was up to my chest. I thought I was going to die.”
Another couple aged 85 and 84, died after their vehicle was swept away when trying to leave the Le Lavandou area, local authorities said.
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