Two have died and an entire Roman Catholic pilgrimage site has been forced to close since a devastating flood hit Lourdes, France on Wednesday.
Less than one year ago, enormous flash floods caused millions of euros in damage costs the very same shrine that turned away visitors on Wednesday morning.
Footage of the area bore images of waist-deep waters-nearly three feet high-frothing in menacing swirls around the Lourdes grotto, Reuters reported.
A few hundred pilgrims had to evacuate from hotels and camping grounds in the area, after large amounts of melted snow, coupled with summer storming triggered the Gave de Pau river to flood, pounding through its banks Tuesday evening.
"We need more reinforcements in the area to face these floods, which are really exceptional," France's Interior Minister Manuel Valls told the Associated Press.
A 70-year-old woman died that same night as she attempted to move her car that was trapped from the flood in the small town of Pierrefitte-Nestalas, according to Reuters.
Valls told BFM television that another man, also in his seventies, died Wednesday when he was swept up by the river.
By late Wednesday, the high water had dissipated slightly. Manuel Valls was scheduled to come to the Pyrenees foothill area later in the week.
The grotto is a historical and religious site where, as legend goes, the Virgin Mary came to a provincial girl in 1858. The hillside location is one of the top-visited miracle shrines for Catholics.
