Flash Floods Turn Roads Into Rivers Near Toulon

Floodwater surged across roads in La Garde, just outside Toulon, as a violent Mediterranean storm battered southern France’s Var department on Tuesday evening.

X user Guillaume Jauseau filmed the scene on October 20, writing that the roads were starting to flood. The two clips show cars ploughing through fast-moving, churning water at a junction and rain hammering a flooded street after dark.

Earlier that day, Météo-France brought forward an orange storm and flood warning for the Var to 6 a.m., and 50 to 60 millimeters of rain fell in a single hour in Toulon by 8 a.m. The RD98 road between La Valette-du-Var and La Garde was closed after it flooded, and firefighters responded to around 15 weather-related traffic accidents across the department.

As fresh downpours hit in the evening, the Var prefecture sent a second FR-Alert warning to mobile phones, urging residents to stay at home and keep out of basements and underground spaces. The same storm system turned deadly in the neighboring Bouches-du-Rhône, where authorities said three people died.