Météo France placed 25 departments on orange alert for risks of thunderstorms on Saturday, in its latest bulletin dated 4 p.m.
A large part of the country will be affected by these sometimes strong storms, particularly in the Grand-Est region and Bourgogne-Franche-Comté, Cher, Landes, Gironde, Charente, Charente-Maritime, Vienne and Deux-Sèvres.
Rain and storms are expected in the South-West, while in the North-East, intense electrical activity is expected, accompanied by violent gusts of wind, hail and heavy accumulations of rain in a short period of time, Météo France reports.
Hail, wind gusts and rain accumulations
At the end of the night, the storms will first affect the regions from Landes to Poitou. “The cumulative rainfall over a few hours could reach 50 to 80 mm,” warns Météo France.
Then, in the afternoon and evening, a wave of thunderstorms will circulate towards the northeast of the country. The most violent are expected over a large northeast quarter, with heavy accumulations of rain, wind and large hail.
Other regions could be affected by this orange alert at a later date: Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, Centre-Val-de-Loire, Nouvelle-Aquitaine and Occitanie. 56 departments are already on yellow alert.
