Eure-et-Loir and Seine-et-Marne on red alert for floods

Eure-et-Loir and Seine-et-Marne were, on Thursday October 10, on red alert for floods while the heavy rains associated with the Kirk depression weakened as they progressed towards the north-east of the country. In addition, five departments are on orange alert for flooding: Vendée, Deux-Sèvres, Sarthe, Orne, and Aisne. The storm required 3,700 firefighters to intervene, according to Prime Minister Michel Barnier, who assured that “the state [était] there and [serait] there in post-crisis management » of these events “very serious”.

In Seine-et-Marne, the Grand Morin, a tributary of the Marne, burst its banks, submerging fields, businesses and roads in places, and, in Pommeuse, flooding the stadium, a factory and houses. Stéphane Quin, resident of this town of 3,000 inhabitants, says he is waiting for “the water stops rising”while the peak of the flood was expected at midday. “I have 40 cm of water in the kitchen”says this 53-year-old carpenter. “We know that we are in a flood zone, but it is rare for the Grand Morin to come that far, and it is still the fourth flood this year”deplores Stéphane Quin.

“No injuries” is not to be deplored in this department, but “the episode is not over”warned the Minister of Ecological Transition, Agnès Pannier-Runacher. If the rain has stopped in Ile-de-France, the episode continues further east, and it is therefore “probable that the water will start to rise a little again”she warned during her visit to half-flooded Coulommiers. In this city, Vincent Bouchrot, chief of staff of the mayor, talks about “an extraordinary flood”with “half a dozen people” sheltered in gymnasiums.

As elsewhere in France, dozens of roads were closed in Seine-et-Marne, and local services mobilized to respond to mudslides and falling trees.

Rail traffic “is improving overall”

In Eure-et-Loir, “significant overflows are underway in the Bonneval and Saint-Maur-sur-le-Loi sectors”Or “Increases in levels are still expected and damaging overflows could occur during this Thursday afternoon”warns the specialized government site Vigicrues.

In the commune of Epernon, “during the night there was water as high as a car”testifies Mathieu Ana, communications manager at the town hall, and “up to a meter of water” still cluttered the houses in the morning.

Elsewhere in the territory, heavy rainfall since Wednesday could reach 120 to 130 mm in the Alpes-Maritimes, aggravated by wind gusts of up to more than 110 km/h, disrupting the operation of schools, as well as traffic. road and rail.

Rail traffic “improves overall” Thursday in the middle of the day after being interrupted locally in five regions, announced the SNCF. “More than 500 SNCF Réseau agents have intervened tirelessly since [mercredi] to clear the lanes and allow traffic to resume as quickly as possible”specified the public company in its midday situation update. No TGV lines were affected by the storm.

The electricity distribution network manager Enedis, for its part, reported that on Thursday at midday there remained 48,000 customers without power, including 12,000 in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques, 7,700 in the Doubs and 5,000 in the Swore.

Episodes that risk repeating themselves

In Paris, the precipitation caused interventions in prestigious sites. Buildings of the National Assembly were briefly flooded on Wednesday evening following a burst pipe while heavy rain fell on the capital. Two Assembly buildings, which serve as accommodation for elected officials, were evacuated following water infiltration around 10 p.m. The leak was quickly stopped by firefighters, but around a hundred deputies were housed for the night in hotels.

Thursday, Minister Agnès Pannier-Runacher affirmed that“after the time of emergency”there would be “time for repair” and that an inspection mission would be launched “to provide feedback”. “With climate change, this type of episode risks multiplying” et “we need to predict them, anticipate them” et “cultivate a culture of resilience”.

After storms Leslie in 2018 and Lorenzo in 2019, “We should increasingly expect hurricanes in areas where the water was previously too cold, but which are becoming warmer, such as in the eastern Atlantic”also estimated Tobias Grimm, climate expert from Munich Re, the world’s leading reinsurer, contacted by Agence France-Presse. “Climate research says quite clearly that we probably won’t necessarily have more hurricanes if the planet continues to warm, but that the areas where they occur will become larger”he said.

At the end of the wettest month of September in twenty-five years, the average annual precipitation totals have already been exceeded almost everywhere in mainland France.

September was also marked on a global scale by “extreme precipitation”exacerbated by the abnormally hot temperatures on the planet for more than a year, a consequence of climate change, according to the European Copernicus Observatory.