A 71-year-old woman was found dead Monday after being engulfed by a landslide in the French city of Nice, as the south of the country counted the cost from a brutal storm.

Storm Amelie brought freak winds, downpours and monster waves to southern France over the weekend. The woman, 71, who died in her own back yard, was the only reported fatality.

The storm dropped trees on roads and railway tracks and ripped loose live electrical wires, leaving tens of thousands of people without power for hours on end, authorities said.

About 60 rescuers worked through the night in search of the woman, who was reported missing after a landslide buried her back garden as she was sweeping during a brief respite of heavy rains over Nice, said emergency services spokesman Eric Brocardi.

They moved more than 80 m3 of soil mixed with concrete blocks from a collapsed retaining wall before finding her body.

Sixteen residents of the same neighbourhood, where other landslides have since occurred, have been evacuated as a precaution.

Weather service Meteo France said winds as strong as 163 km/h (100 mph) were recorded in the southwest coastal departments of Gironde and Landes Sunday, and 121 km/h in Bordeaux.

Six people sustained minor injuries as Amelie pummelled the Atlantic coast.

Several trains were cancelled and several delayed for hours after about 50 trees came down on the lines, said rail operator SNCF.

Storm Amelie pummels France with violent winds, downpours
Bordeaux (AFP) Nov 3, 2019 - Storm winds blasted southern France Sunday, whipping up giant ocean waves, uprooting trees and leaving some 140,000 people without electricity, authorities said.

Emergency services attended hundreds of call-outs as storm Amelie brought gusts that dropped trees on roads and railway tracks and tore loose live electrical cables.

No deaths have been confirmed, but a woman in her seventies was reported missing in southern Nice after a landslide.

Emergency workers were searching the landslip on land overlooking her home to try to find the missing woman, an AFP journalist witnessed.

In the southwest, which was worst affected, six people sustained minor injuries, mainly caused by falling branches.

Early Sunday, 14 of the country's 100-odd departments had been placed on high alert as Amelie brought heavy rains to the Atlantic coast, with winds exceeding 160 kilometres (100 miles) per hour in places.

Weather service Meteo France said winds as strong as 163 km/h (100 mph) were recorded in the coastal departments of Gironde and Landes, and 121 km/h in Bordeaux.

Electricity supplier Enedis said it was working round the clock to restore electricity to some 140,000 customers left without power for hours.

In the Landes department 47 people had to be evacuated from a camp site, and a casino roof collapsed.

Several trains in the area were cancelled or delayed, after around 50 trees came down on the lines, said the rail operator SNCF.

The southeast was not spared, with heavy rainfall forcing the evacuation of a travellers' camp.

Around 30 motorists also had to be rescued as their cars got stuck in the deluge and several shops and homes had their basements flooded.

The extreme weather forced the temporary closure of both the A7 and A21 motorways in the south of the country.

Two flights were cancelled Sunday morning from Ajaccio, on Corsica, while other flights were rerouted to the island's other airport at Bastia.

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Weather News at TerraDaily.com

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