Flash floods claim three lives in southern France

Heavy rains triggered flash floods in the mountains above France's southern Cote d'Azur region on Tuesday, killing seven people, while at least another eight were missing, a local official said.Water levels swiftly rose by several metres, preventing many from fleeing to higher ground and forcing some to seek shelter on the roofs of their homes.Rescue services were focussing their efforts on helping hundreds of people trapped in the vehicles, houses or on the roofs of their homes, the secretary general for the Var region, Olivier de Mazieres told AFP.

At least 20 people have died in floods in southern France, officials said, and there were fears the toll could rise as rescue workers kept up the search for the missing.Helicopters airlifted survivors, sometimes from the roofs of their homes, in the wake of heavy storms that triggered flash floods in the Draguignan area near the Mediterranean coast.Nearly 2,000 rescue workers were rushed in to help hundreds trapped in their vehicles, houses or on rooftops.

At least six children have been killed and three adults were reported missing in northwestern Venezuela following flash floods caused by torrential rains.Yaracuy state governor Julio Leon told local television all victims lived in the town of Bolivar and belonged to the same family, which was apparently enjoying a picnic in a gully when the flash flood hit.Heavy rains have been affecting the area for about two weeks causing flooding in many communities.According to Leon, rescue teams were searching for the missing.

WEST, Texas — The search for survivors after a fertilizer plant explosion in a small Texas town that killed as many as 15 people and injured more than 160 others continued on Thursday morning. Rescue workers searched the rubble of the blast that left the factory a smouldering ruin and levelled homes and businesses for blocks in every direction.

Heavy rains caused floods that killed 21 people in Romania and thousands of others were evacuated from their homes on Tuesday as rivers threatened to burst their banks.People climbed trees to escape the rising water and many houses, roads and railway lines were destroyed or damaged by the floods, officials said.Hundreds of police and emergency workers were deployed to the rescue operation while several localities along the Danube River took urgent measures to stop it from breaching its banks.

Sitting near chunks of concrete, bricks and a ripped orange sofa, Luo Shiqiang told how his grandfather was just returning from feeding chickens when their house collapsed and crushed him to death in a powerful earthquake in southwestern China. “We lost everything in such a short time,” the 20-year-old college student said. His cousin was injured in the collapse, but other family members were spared because they were working in the fields in hard-hit Longmen village in Lushan county.

People keep asking Joe Berti if he feels unlucky. A bomb exploded at the finish line of the Boston Marathon seconds after Berti finished the race. Two days later, he was in his home state of Texas when he saw a fertilizer plant explode near Waco.

Devastating mudslides and floods swept away entire neighborhoods in mountains near Rio de Janeiro, killing at least 335 people as rescue workers searched frantically for survivors on Thursday.Villages and homes in the three municipalities north of Rio were flattened by rivers of mud and tumbling rocks spilling from the mountains, GloboNews television said."It's a huge catastrophe, a major disaster," Jorge Mario Sedlacek, the mayor of the worst-hit town of Teresopolis said. At least 146 people have been killed in the town, 100 kilometres (62 miles) from Rio.