NNA - Severe thunderstorms and heavy rains in Switzerland, France, Germany and Italy on Saturday claimed the lives of at least five people, according to a preliminary toll reported by local authorities on Sunday. 

Three elderly people died on Saturday evening after a tree fell on the car they were traveling in in northeastern France, as a result of storms and strong winds, according to what the police command told Agence France-Presse.

The police command explained that the elderly people were in their seventies and eighties, as was a fourth passenger who was still in serious condition.

In Switzerland, two people died and another was missing after a landslide caused by heavy rains in the southeast of the country, according to what the police in the canton of Ticino said Sunday in a statement.

The police explained that "two bodies" whose identities were being determined were "found by rescuers" in the Fontana area, northwest of the Italian-speaking canton of Ticino.

The local newspaper "L'Region" suggested that the two bodies belonged to German-speaking Swiss vacationers.

On the other hand, 70 people are being evacuated from a summer camp in Mugno, a village famous for the presence of a contemporary church designed by the well-known Swiss architect Mario Botta.

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