PARIS
Deadly floods in France's southern Pyrénées-Orientales department during the weekend have left five dead and thousands displaced from their homes, officials said on Monday.
France is administratively divided into 22 regions made up of 96 departments, which are in turn comprised of 36,782 communes.
The Pyrénées-Orientales department is located in southern France on the Mediterranean coast and borders Spain.
According to local officials, the rising water levels in the area are considered the worst since 1999, when 35 people were killed.
The prime minister's office issued a statement describing the flooding as "exceptional" but maintained that "the situation is under control."
France's national forecast agency, Meteo France, has issued severe weather alerts across 13 departments in southern France and Corsica, as heavy storms destroyed multiple homes across the country's southeast.
On Sunday, more than 3,000 people were evacuated in regions within 200 yards of the Agly River and over 500 left their homes in Canet, Argels-sur-Mer and Barcars.
The death of a man in Rivesaltes, in the Pyrénées-Orientales department, brings the numbers of bad weather causalities in the south of France up to 24 since the beginning of 2014.
The 73-year old was trying to force his car through a large, flooded dip in a road when he died of heart failure.
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