The incident took place as France’s Savoie and Haute Savoie departments and other Alpine regions were put under the highest alert for avalanches as heavy snow, rain and flooding caused chaos across the region. The man was standing “at the side of the road … and was buried and swept some 15 metres below”, it said. At least four people have been reported dead as a result of extreme weather in France, Italy and Switzerland that has cut off winter resorts, disrupted transport and left homes without electricity. Snow is not unusual in the Alps in April, but the amount that has blanketed parts of France, Switzerland and Italy took local people and officials by surprise. In Italy, the air force’s weather service reported “intense and abundant” rain that turned to show above 1,800 metres.
