GENEVA: Ferocious storms and torrential rains that lashed France, Switzerland and Italy this weekend have left seven people dead, local authorities said on Sunday.

Three people in their 70s and 80s died in France’s northeastern Aube region on Saturday when a tree crushed the car they were travelling in during fierce winds, the local authority told AFP.

A fourth passenger was in critical care, it added.

In neighbouring Switzerland, four people have died and another is missing, according to local police.Three were killed after torrential rains triggered a landslide in the southeast, police in the Italian-speaking canton of Ticino said. A man was also found dead in a hotel in Saas-Grun in the southwest canton of Valais, police said, adding that he was probably taken by surprise by a sudden rapid rise in floodwater.

Another man is also missing in Valais, police said.

The civil security services said “several hundred” people were evacuated in Valais and roads closed after the Rhone and its tributaries overflowed in different locations.