[WATCH] 19 feared dead after heavy flooding hits France

19 people are feared dead after violent storms and heavy rains swept the French Riviera, including three people who drowned in a retirement home after a river broke its banks.

Heavy flooding along the Cote d’Azur on Saturday saw the river Brague burst its banks close to the city of Antibes, flooding a home for the elderly, while fierce thunderstorms poured more than 17 centimetres of rain on the Cannes region in just two hours.

The amount of rain is the equivalent of two months of rainfall for the region, local radio France Bleu-Azur reported.

The French president, François Hollande, confirmed at least 16 people had died and a further three were missing. The interior ministry said earlier in the morning there was “little hope to find the [missing] alive”.

“It’s not over,” Hollande said as he arrived at the flooded retirement home and met emergency service workers. “The toll is not yet finalised. In times like this, we must be fast, efficient and coordinated.” Hollande said people were found dead in the towns of Cannes, Biot, Golfe-Juan and Mandelieu-la-Napoule in the southeast, not far from Italy.

At least seven people drowned after their cars became trapped in underground car parks while others became trapped at a campsite. Three people drowned when their car became stuck in rising waters inside a narrow tunnel near Vallauris Golfe-Juan, authorities said.

A woman in her 60s is reported to have died in the street in Cannes when huge storms hit the region on Saturday. Water and debris coursed down submerged roads in the festival town and in the neighbouring city of Nice. Another victim was found dead at a campsite in Antibes, according to officials.

The areas worst hit by flooding were also the hardest to access, officials said, raising fears the death toll could rise. About 27,000 homes remained without power early on Sunday, 14,000 of them in Cannes alone.

Several trains were stopped because of flooded tracks, and traffic remained stopped along the Mediterranean coast between Nice and Toulon on Sunday morning.

French weather forecasters said the worst storms had now passed over the French mainland and were heading for the Italian coast.