Hundreds of firefighters have been mobilized in Gard and Hérault while 28 departments are placed in orange vigilance according to the Weather Channel.
Twenty-eight departments remain on orange alert this Wednesday after a violent episode of stationary thunderstorms which affected Gard and Hérault all afternoon on Tuesday, which had been placed on storm red alert by the Weather Channel * due to , in particular, exceptional precipitation volumes. Both departments saw their alerts downgraded on Tuesday evening as thunderstorms receded out to sea.
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Impressive images have been posted on social networks, in which we see waterspouts falling in several areas of southern France. The city of Nîmes received more than 100 mm of water in one hour, and Montpellier more than 70 mm. The populations were also invited to stay at home, in a permanent building, and not to use their vehicles.
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“There were around fifty interventions in Nîmes following heavy rains“, indicated to AFP the firefighters of Gard whose device had been reinforced Tuesday with”a total workforce in the department of 310 firefighters including 60 flood specialists“.
Météo-France had also placed Gard and Hérault on absolute vigilance (red), this having been maintained until 6:15 a.m. this Wednesday for the first of the two departments. “The exceptional intensity of the precipitation observed requires a passage in red vigilance“, had declared the public establishment. “Values of more than 150 mm are noted in the south-east of Hérault and the region of Sommières“, had specified Météo-France. Hérault and Gard are now on orange alert, according to the Weather Channel, a sign that heavy rains are still to be expected. 26 other departments are on orange alert, especially in the East (see list at the end of the article).
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Lez overflow in Montpellier
At the beginning of the afternoon, the first heavy rains first affected towns located about ten kilometers north of Montpellier, such as Saint-Gély-du-Fesc, where part of the false ceiling of a supermarket collapsed due to water infiltration, without causing any casualties, said the firefighters of Hérault. The event has “generated some reconnaissance interventions following a rapid rise in runoff water, particularly in Saint-Gély-du-Fesc, Saint-Clément-de-Rivière, Combaillaux and Montpellier“, specified the firefighters of the Hérault in their last press release.
In total, some 250 firefighters were mobilized in eastern Hérault, including ten units of 4 aquatic rescuers, according to the prefecture. In the city center of Montpellier, the electrical activity was intense and the torrential rains for a good hour in the afternoon, noted AFP journalists. As often in the event of heavy rainfall, the Lez, the coastal river which crosses the city, came out of its bed near the regional hotel and the town hall.
The mayor of Montpellier, Michaël Delafosse, initially asked parents to leave their children safe at school, before specifying that a lull in progress around 5 p.m.makes it possible to collect children from schools and nurseries“, the storms heading towards the Mediterranean near Sète. “Another stormy episode is possible in two to three hours“, However, then warned Michaël Delafosse on Twitter. In the Gard, the firefighters realized “eight interventions related to the protection of assetsin the area of Sommières, a town very hard hit by floods that killed nearly 20 people in 2002 across the department. They called for the utmost caution, “further precipitation is expected in the early evening and tonight“.
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At the start of the evening, the stormy wave moved to Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes and the Rhône corridor then rose towards the north-eastern regions with brutal but fairly rapid thunderstorms. Lorraine will also be particularly exposed to heavy stormy precipitation with a risk of hail and strong gusts of wind (80 to 100 km/h when the strongest storms pass).
List of departments concerned by an orange thunderstorm alert
- 01-Ain
- 03- Combine
- 07-Ardeche
- 11-Aude
- 12-Aveyron
- 13- Bouches-du-Rhone
- 15- Cantal
- 21-Cote-d’Or
- 25-Doubs
- 26 -Drome
- 30-gard
- 34-Herault
- 38-Isere
- 39-Jura
- 42-Loire
- 43-Haute-Loire
- 48-Lozere
- 52-Haute-Marne
- 54-Meurthe-et-Moselle
- 55-Meuse
- 57-Moselle
- 63-Puy-de-Dome
- 69-Rhone
- 70-Haute-Saone
- 71-Saône-et-Loire
- 84-Vaucluse
- 88-Vosges
- 90-Territory of Belfort
List of departments concerned by a yellow thunderstorm alert
- 02-Aisne
- 03-Allier
- 04-Alpes-de-Haute-Provence
- 05-Hautes-Alpes
- 08-Ardennes
- 10-Dawn
- 14-Calvados
- 17-Charente-Maritime
- 18-Dear
- 19-Correze
- 23-Hollow
- 27-Eure
- 35-Ile-et-Vilaine
- 44-Loire-Atlantique
- 45-Loiret
- 46-Lot
- 49-Maine-et-Loire
- 51-Marne
- 53-Mayenne
- 58-Nievre
- 61-Orne
- 67-Bas-Rhin
- 68-Haut-Rhin
- 72-Sarthe
- 73-Savoy
- 74-Haute-Savoie
- 77-Seine-et-Marne
- 79-Deux-Sevres
- 81-Tarn
- 83-Var
- 85-Vendee
- 89-Yonne
*The Weather Channel is a property of the Figaro group
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