Floods in southern France kill at least five and displace thousands

PERPIGNAN, France, Nov. 30 (UPI) -- Floods in France's southern Pyrénées-Orientales region have displaced thousands from their homes and killed at least five, officials say.

Regions within 200 yards of the Agly River were evacuated of nearly 3,000 people Sunday, while over 500 left their homes in Canet, Argelès-sur-Mer and Barcarès. The areas fall within the Pyrénées-Orientales department in southern France on the Mediterranean coast and the border with Spain.

Heavy storms have shocked the western Mediterranean for several days now, with over 4 inches of rain hitting Perpignan, the capital of the Pyrénées-Orientales department, on Saturday and Sunday while strong winds ripped several roofs from structures in Serignan, to the east.

Meteo France, France's national forecast agency, issued severe weather alerts across 13 departments in southern France and Corsica, and high-velocity winds and flooding rains destroyed multiple homes across the country's southeast. Four people were killed and many others are still unaccounted for.

The most recent death occurred in Rivesaltes, in the Pyrénées-Orientales region, when a 73-year-old man suffered heart failure trying to forge his car across a flooded dip in the road, raising the total of dead to five.

The rising water levels are considered worse than floods in 1999, when 35 people were killed in the same region.