Floodwater Swamps Cars in Martigues as Deadly Storm Hits

Muddy floodwater swirled around rows of parked cars in Martigues, west of Marseille, as a violent Mediterranean storm battered the Bouches-du-Rhône department.

Footage shared by X user vigiprevention_meteo, a weather account, on the morning of October 20 shows brown water flowing fast through a residential car park, rising around the wheels of dozens of vehicles as the camera looks down from above in the dark.

The account had already reported flooding in nearby Saint-Chamas, Grans, Istres and Fos-sur-Mer. Martigues was among the worst-hit towns, with mudslides and falling trees and rocks, and the town opened an emergency reception center. Salon-de-Provence recorded its wettest day since 1938, local radio Maritima reported.

By the evening of October 21, the Bouches-du-Rhône prefecture said three people had died: a 75-year-old in Saint-Mitre-les-Remparts and two women, aged 86 and 26, who drowned in a cellar in Lançon-Provence. Firefighter reinforcements were sent from other regions. “The water is rising to unprecedented levels,” Prefect Jacques Witkowski said.