LViolent hailstorms in Saône-et-Loire and Allier caused major material damage. The firefighters intervened hundreds of times, Agence France-Presse learned Wednesday morning from the emergency services and local elected officials. At the end of the day on Tuesday, “we had a storm of incredible violence, with hailstones of a size that we had never seen in memory of the inhabitants”, declared to AFP Fabien Genet, senator of Saône-et-Loire and elected in charge of security in Digoin in the Charolais sector, very affected. In the historic center of the city, on the banks of the Loire, hailstones the size of a ping-pong ball shattered the roofs of homes and public buildings, chopped trees and the windshields of many cars. did not resist.
“We have Plexiglas domes that exploded, in a gymnasium for example”, notes Fabien Genet, describing “enormous material damage” which did not cause any injuries. Same observation around the neighboring town of Paray-le-Monial, where the president of the department and elected official of the city, André Accary, went Wednesday morning with the prefect. “It’s very impressive: in the space of seven minutes, the buildings were machine-gunned in the economic zone of Paray, as well as the surrounding dwellings”, described André Accary. Firefighters have intervened more than 600 times since Tuesday evening to urgently cover damaged roofs, many of which were not yet protected on Wednesday morning. “Our concern is that new storms are announced for this (Wednesday) evening and until Friday, it’s a race against time for relief,” added the president of the department.
�� My encouragement to the firefighters of @SDIS71 on the ground since yesterday evening to cope after the violent storms which fell in @saoneetloire in the areas of Digoin and Paray-le-Monial. More than 400 interventions and 100 firefighters from all over the department pic.twitter.com/XX5rBacJmM
— André Accary (@AccaryAndre) June 22, 2022
Interventions, tarping operations…
In the Allier, a violent hailstorm also affected the east of Moulins on Tuesday evening, an area where firefighters carried out 145 interventions in the municipalities of Jaligny-sur-Besbre, Thionne, Saint-See, mainly for damaged roof coverings. According to a Codis firefighter, people were shocked on the road by the violence of the episode. On June 4, a storm had already caused significant damage in the Vichy area, further south. The material damage was also significant in the Nièvre, according to the prefecture of the department, where the Morvan was hit by hail. The firefighters have already intervened 160 times and 300 tarping operations remain to be carried out before a new stormy episode expected on Wednesday evening.
On Wednesday afternoon, the prefect of the Côte d’Or activated the departmental operational center to coordinate the action of the security and emergency services after an episode of hail in the west of the department “which caused damage but not of victims”. “A new stormy episode is underway in this same sector but also in the south-east of the department, for which nearly 150 interventions by the SDIS21 (departmental fire and rescue service) are underway for flooding in homes and companies”, causing “for the moment only material damage”, indicated the prefecture in a press release.
The army was required to “ship tarpaulins to cover the damaged roofs, she added, adding that 600 homes had so far been without electricity in the territory. Thunderstorms are expected to continue Wednesday evening and Thursday, sometimes accompanied by heavy precipitation and hail. A front must notably cross the country from the southwest to the eastern flank on Thursday, according to Météo-France.