Three people, including a British woman, have died after several days of heavy rain sent rivers flooding over their banks across southern France, causing "significant damage," the interior ministry said Thursday.

Rescue workers have carried out nearly 1,800 operations since Sunday, a ministry statement said, after eight departments were placed on high alert for flash floods.

Among the victims was a 68-year-old British woman who was found by emergency workers near her home in the town of Cazouls d'Herault in the Languedoc-Roussillon region.

She was taken by helicopter to hospital but died overnight, a local official in the town of Beziers said.

Officials said later however that it was not clear if the two other reported deaths were directly linked to the flooding.

In the Gard region, a man in his nineties was killed Wednesday when his car came off the road.

Authorities in the Pyrenees-Orientales prefecture told AFP that a homeless man was found dead on Tuesday. An enquiry was underway to determine the cause of his death.

Around 700 homes remain without power in Herault and Gard, and the flooding could halt train services across much of the area until at least November 4, the SNCF train operator said.

"This toll could have been higher," Transport Minister Elisabeth Borne said while inspecting the damage in Beziers, a city hit particularly hard.

Flooding also killed a man in northeastern Spain this week, and five people were missing, officials said Wednesday.

Flooding and landslides forced the closure of nearly 50 roads and halted train services in the region, as well as forcing the diversion of 37 flights, Spanish authorities said.

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One dead, 5 missing as northeast Spain hit by flash floods
Barcelona (AFP) Oct 23, 2019
One man died and another five people were missing Wednesday after a night of torrential rain triggered flash flooding in northeastern Spain, cutting off roads and disrupting air travel, officials said. Police said they found a man's body late on Tuesday on the beach in Caldes d'Estrac, some 40 kilometres (25 miles) north of Barcelona, while further south, rescuers were engaged in the hunt for five other people, all of whom disappeared in a badly-hit area inland from the coastal city of Tarragona. ... read more