UPDATE: SEVEN DEAD AFTER STORM LASH FRANCE, SWITZERLAND

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Seven people have died as a result of the violent storms and deluges of rain that pounded France, Switzerland, and Italy this past weekend, local authorities reported on Sunday.

The automobile they were travelling in was crushed by a tree on Saturday during strong winds in the northeastern Aube region of France, causing the deaths of three people in their 70s and 80s, the local government told AFP.

It said that a fourth passenger was in critical condition.

Four people have died and one is missing in adjacent Switzerland, according to local authorities.

According to authorities in the Italian-speaking canton of Ticino, three people were murdered when a landslip in the southeast was caused by heavy rainfall.

Three were killed after torrential rains triggered a landslide in the southeast, police in the Italian-speaking canton of Ticino said.

A man was also found dead in a hotel in Saas-Grun in the southwest canton of Valais, police said, adding that he was probably taken by surprise by a sudden rapid rise in floodwater.

Another man is also missing in Valais, police said.

The civil security services said “several hundred” people were evacuated in Valais and roads closed after the Rhone and its tributaries overflowed in different locations.

Emergency services were assessing the best way to evacuate 300 people who had arrived for a football tournament in Peccia, while almost 70 more were being evacuated from a holiday camp in the village of Mogno.

As previously reported by the police, the bad weather was making rescue operations extremely challenging because it was cutting off numerous valleys from the electricity grid and rendering them unreachable.

A portion of the canton was reported to be without drinking water by the federal warning system.

Last weekend, severe rains also hit southeast Switzerland, resulting in significant damage and one fatality.

Internet users posted pictures of impressive floods and swollen rivers hurtling down mountain slopes in the Aosta Valley of northern Italy.

According to scientists, human-caused climate change is making extreme weather events like storms and floods more frequent, severe, and prolonged.

AFP