Seine-et-Marne still on red alert, 67,000 homes deprived of electricity

The heavy rains associated with the Kirk depression gradually weakened Thursday morning, crossing Île-de-France towards the northeast with Seine-et-Marne still on alert in flood red while more than 67,000 homes were deprived of electricity.

One death and thousands of homes deprived of electricity

A boater died off the coast of Sète and another is in absolute emergency after the strong swell shaking the coasts of Hérault capsized three boats, announced the prefecture of this department. More than 67,000 customers were deprived of electricity on Wednesday evening, mainly in the South-West, announced Enedis, the distribution network manager. Thursday morning, 18,000 customers were still without electricity in Alsace and Franche-Comté, according to Enedis.

A risk of flooding “strong to exceptional» on the Grand Morin River, a sub-tributary of the Seine, justified the placement of Seine-et-Marne on red alert, according to Vigicrues. School transport is suspended Thursday in the department.

Many departments still on alert

In addition to Seine-et-Marne, confirmed on red alert for Thursday, Météo France also maintained ten departments on orange alert, including seven for floods and three for wind, according to the bulletin published at 3 a.m. The orange “rain-floods” vigilance has, however, been lifted in all the departments concerned.

There, several rivers flirted with their alert threshold during the night but the trend is towards decline. As a precaution, residents of Saint-Martin-Vésubie and Fontan were evacuated and several roads threatened with flooding remained closed in the morning.

At the end of a crisis meeting in Paris, the Minister of Ecological Transition Agnès Pannier-Runacher highlighted the mobilization of “all state services» and called “everyone to be careful». «These episodes will be repeated. We are in a moment where climate change is reflected concretely in our daily lives“, she stressed in front of journalists.

“Limited” difficulties in transport, but disruptions on the rise this Thursday

According to the Minister for Transport François Durovray, the difficulties at the end of the day on Wednesday remained “limited”, including “some planes diverted“. On the rail, he mentioned the possibility “of lying trees» or “embankment collapses» and arrangements made «so that before the opening of the service” THURSDAY, “all checks are carried out and obviously the safety of users is ensured“. The SNCF carried out localized traffic interruptions at 7 p.m. on Wednesday in order to guarantee the safety of travelers and staff, particularly in New Aquitaine, Loire" rel="tag">Pays de la Loire and Rhône-Alpes.

Thursday morning, traffic was notably interrupted between Besançon and Belfort, and between Dole and Besançon, due to falling trees on the tracks. The equivalent of a month of rain had been forecast for Wednesday alone on a route from Vendée to Champagne-Ardenne. In Noirmoutier-en-l’île, in Vendée, the hospital center was affected by a flood. Many roads were flooded in many sectors of the department. Firefighters carried out more than 130 interventions.

In Loire-Atlantique, 22 roads were totally or partially cut, according to the departmental council, and firefighters carried out 456 interventions, mainly for flooding, and 89 municipalities were affected, the south of the Nantes conurbation being particularly affected.

The heavy rainfall also caused flooding of the A11 motorway towards Paris in the town of Chartres (Eure-et-Loir), leading to a cutting of this road, indicated Bison Futé. In the Pays de la Loire, the “heavy rains led to flooding on the tracks» between Saint-Nazaire and le Croisic, Nantes and Pornic as well as between Nantes and Saint-Gilles, interrupting rail traffic in places. In Loire-Atlantique, 22 roads were completely or partially cut, according to the departmental council.

Also readClosure of schools, crisis units… Why is rain so feared on the Côte d’Azur?

Gusts of 211 km/h in the Pyrenees

As a precaution, the SNCF had scheduled a total interruption of traffic on several routes on Wednesday, notably between Dax (Landes) and Tarbes (Hautes-Pyrénées), Bayonne and Hendaye (Pyrénées-Atlantiques) or even Saintes and Royan (Charente-Maritime). In New Aquitaine, a strong gale occurred, particularly on the western summits of the Pyrenees: according to Météo France, gusts of 211 km/h were recorded in the area of ​​the ski resort of ‘Iraty (Pyrénées-Atlantiques).

«Such gusts in Iraty are not usual», noted for AFP Christophe Dedieu, president of the Météo Pyrénées association. At the end of the wettest month of September in 25 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.