France’s Grotto of Massabielle floods, measured at 3.2 meters
LOURDES, France (CBS, KYMA/KECY) - Heavy rain overnight in southwest France's Hautes-Pyrenees department meant flood alerts for several areas on September 7.
In Lourdes, the city's famed Grotto of Massabielle was flooded, as the flood level was measured at 3.2 meters.
Video posted by the Sanctuaire Notre-Dame de Lourdes shows the swollen River Ousse inundating the grotto, which attracts millions of Catholic pilgrims each year who venerate it as the site of 19th-century Marian apparitions.
According to La Depeche, the grotto was evacuated at around 6:00am Central European Summer Time during an English-language Mass.
A spokesman told Storyful the sanctuary grounds remained open at the time of writing.
