More than 3,000 holidaymakers are evacuated as wildfires hit French tourist hotspots...
while flashfloods rip through luxury Austrian ski resort as Europe suffers weather extremes By David Averre Published: 11:22 BST, 19 August 2024 | Updated: 11:57 BST, 19 August 2024 e-mail 2 View comments A pair of wildfires raging in southern France forced authorities to evacuate thousands of people from campsites and tourist spots over the weekend as strong winds sent the flames tearing through rural areas. Some 3,000 holidaymakers fled campgrounds near the coastal town of Canet-en-Roussillon, near the city of Perpignan while dozens more people had to abandon their homes in Frontignan near Montpellier. Hundreds of firefighters were tasked with battling the infernos all weekend before eventually managing to extinguish them this morning.
'The fire has been under control for two and a half hours now,' a spokesman for the regional firefighters in Montpellier, Jerome Bonnafoux, said early today. 'But we're still working on it because there are several hot spots where the risk of it flaring is high.' While France was blighted by wildfires, Austria suffered horrendous flooding with heavy rains triggering major landslides, particularly in the ski resort of St.
Anton. Shocking images showed buses and cars partially buried in rocks and sludge as rainwater gushed through the Alpine streets. Hundreds of firefighters were tasked with battling the infernos all weekend before eventually managing to ext.