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Three die, vineyards devastated, Lourdes flooded - France's week of storms

Three people have died in the storms and floods that hit France this week. Vineyards in the Loire and south-west have been devastated and an underground church in Lourdes is under 30-40 cm of mud.

A firefighter works on the esplanade at Lourdes on Thursday
A firefighter works on the esplanade at Lourdes on Thursday AFP
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After the death of a woman in her 70s on Tuesday night, the storms claimed two more victims in south-west France - a 75-year-old man swept away by the floodwaters in the Pyrenees on Wednesday afternoon and a 54-year-old woman drowned in her car on Thursday in the Landes.

In the pilgrimage town of Lourdes:

  • 37 hotels have been so badly damaged by flooding that they will not be able to open for several months;
  • The grotto is stil closed but expected to reopen soon;
  • The esplanade, main cathedral and several churches are now open to the public;
  • The subterranean church of Saint Pie X, which can take as many as 25,000 worshippers, is still partly flooded and the floor is covered with 30-40cm of mud;
  • Repairs done after last October's flooding need to be done all over again, officials report.

Several villages in the Pyrenees mountainsremain cut off or deprived of electricity, with helicopters flying in supplies to Cauterets and homes and a six-million-euro leisure park badly damaged at Baudreix, near Pau.

President François Hollande visited the village of Saint-Béat to take stock of the devasation on Thursday afternoon. 

Elsewhere in France:

  • The river Isère reached a five-yearly high at Grenoble on Friday, flooding roads along its banks, thanks to a combination of torrential rain and melting snow in the Alps;
  • High winds destroyed several houses in Châtillon-sur-Seine, in Burgundy, on Wednesday evening.

Agriculture has been badly hit with crops destroyed or left unsown on 300,000 hectares of land, according to a farmers' union which puts the cost at 500 million euros.

Two-thirds of the vineyard at Vouvray, a highly regarded appellation in the Loire, were destroyed by hail in 15 minutes on Monday and vineyards at nearby Bourgeil were also badly damaged.

Cahors in the south-west suffered badly later in the week.

Agriculture Minister Stéphane le Foll has announced an emergency aid package and Interior Minister Manuel Valls says that a "state of natural catastrophe" will be declared "before the end of next week".

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