Rescuers combed wrecked cars and homes for bodies in France's Cote d'Azur yesterday after the worst floods in two centuries killed 25 people including a two-year-old, authorities said.

Authorities in the Var, a favourite holiday region, raised the death toll to 25 yesterday from an earlier count of 22 after the floodwaters engulfed streets in torrents of mud and drove people onto the roofs of their homes.

A two-year-old child died after falling into the flood water as a family scrambled to escape their home in Roquebrune-sur-Argens, authorities said.

Officials warned other bodies might be found as the search continued with rescuers digging through mud-filled cars and wreckage looking for about a dozen people still reported missing as helicopters circled overhead.

"There are still flooded places which have yet to be inspected, such as the campsites on the coast," said Laurent Robert, an official in the state prosecutor's office in Draguignan, the town worst hit with at least 12 dead.

Another source said a one-month-old baby was missing.

Scores of cars were piled on top of each other and holiday homes and camp sites in the region were devastated.

"Everything is ruined, unusable," said Edouard Gregoriou, who runs a restaurant and boating service in Roquebrune. "We have pedal-boats scattered for miles around, and mobile homes in trees."

The swollen Nartuby river which runs through Draguignan also hit the village of Trans-en-Provence where five other bodies were found.

Other victims were found in Luc, Roquebrune, Frejus, the Saint-Cassien lake and Saint-Aygulf, the regional prefecture said. The floods also badly hit the chic holiday resort of St Tropez.

The national weather office said they were the worst storms in the region since 1827. Interior Minister Brice Hortefeux called it an "unprecedented catastrophe" for the region.

About 94,000 homes were still without electricity yesterday, the regional authorities said.

"The electricity is down. All the mobile homes have been overturned," said Regis Fardoux, director of a campsite near Frejus. "The season is finished."