Death toll in French storms rises to five

PARIS (AFP) Jul 16, 2003
A two-year-old girl who was hit by a falling tree at a campsite in southwestern France died of her injuries on Wednesday, bringing the death toll from violent storms lashing the country to five, officials said.

They said the girl was injured overnight Tuesday in a campsite in the Landes department and died in a hospital in the city of Bordeaux.

Two Dutch tourists - a 39-year-old man and a 10-year-old girl -- died earlier after being hit by falling trees at separate campsites in Landes, on the southwestern Atlantic coast, police said.

In the neighboring department of Pyrenees-Atlantiques, a 17-year-old boy was killed when he lost control of his scooter during a ferocious hail storm and hit an oncoming vehicle. His 14-year-old passenger was in serious condition in hospital.

A total of 70 people were injured in the storms, nine of them seriously, according to the emergency services.

More than 300,000 homes initially lost electricity, though the state-owned power company EDF said service had been restored to around 80 percent of them by midday Wednesday.

Emergency services said Wednesday they are also looking for a man who was reported missing on a lake.

TERRA.WIRE