Residents of Marseille woke up to see vehicles trapped and roads submerged.
Intense overnight storms caught citizens of Marseille off guard on Tuesday, with motorists finding themselves trapped in floodwaters.
City mayor Benoit Payan urged residents to be careful as the city’s old port and several neighbourhoods were inundated by torrential rains.
The heavy downpour came as parts of France remain under an orange weather alert.
Up to 70mm of rain fell in some areas in less than two hours, equivalent to a normal month’s worth of precipitation.
“It’s happened several times in September, and now it’s back again in October,” said a cook whose restaurant was submerged.
“The fire brigade was called out more than 700 times in two hours.”
Local media report that up to 30 schools in the city were closed on Tuesday due to the storms.
There were also disruptions to the city’s bus, tram and metro systems.
