A fireman died and 19 people were missing in France and Italy after a storm hit border regions of the two countries, causing heavy flooding that swept away roads and damaged homes, authorities said on Saturday.

The storm, dubbed Alex, ravaged several villages around the city of Nice on the French Riviera. Nice Mayor Christian Estrosi called it the worst flooding disaster in the area for more than a century after flying over the worst-hit area by helicopter.
At least eight people were missing in France, authorities said. These included two firemen whose vehicle was carried away by a swollen river, according to local witnesses cited by several French media.
In Italy, at least one person died and up to 11 people were missing.

A fireman was killed by a falling tree in the Valle d’Aosta, while 3 people traveling in a van were swept away by floodwaters in Val Roya on the border with France.

Six German trekkers were among the missing after failing to return from a trip in the mountains in the province of Cuneo.
TV shots in Italy showed several roads and bridges in the northwest of the country had been swept away by floodwater and numerous rivers were burst their banks.

There was more rainfall than on Oct. 3, 2015, when floods caused the death of 20 people in and around the French Riviera city of Cannes, Jérémy Crunchant, the director of civil protection, told France Info.