France mobilizes rescue forces to search for many people missing in storm

A family of four, including two children aged 4 and 13, were swept away by floodwaters while driving across a bridge over the Gardon River in the city of Nimes on the evening of March 9, local authorities said. Rescuers found the mother and took her to hospital, but the father and two children remained missing. Gard authorities deployed a helicopter to fly over the Gardon River to look for the missing, while firefighters were also searching with the help of sniffer dogs and drones. The bridge remains submerged in floodwaters.

Rescuers are also searching for two women, aged 47 and 50, who called the emergency number after becoming trapped on a flooded bridge in the town of Goudargues. A Belgian driver is also missing and is suspected to have been swept away while crossing a flooded bridge in the village of Gagnieres in the region. His passengers managed to get out and climb a tree before being rescued by rescuers.

In the neighboring Ardeche province, the manager of a hydroelectric power plant in the area has also been missing since the evening of March 9 after going to the facility to check on the situation. French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said rescuers had carried out 35 operations as storms and heavy rains hit the Ardeche and Gard provinces. All the vehicles that were swept away have been found, but no one was inside.

In Switzerland, police have also been called in to search for six people missing while on a ski trip from the town of Zermatt in the Alps. They have been missing since March 9 near the Tete Blanche mountain, on a ski run near the area that stretches along the Swiss-Italian border. Police said the rescue operation was hampered by bad weather conditions. Zermatt is a popular mountain resort, known for its skiing, which attracts visitors from around the world.