Bad weather: red vigilance lifted everywhere in France, 18 departments in orange for floods or rain-flooding

Eighteen departments remain on orange alert for floods or rain-flooding this Friday morning, according to the Météo-France bulletin published at 6 a.m. If Lozère, Haute-Loire, Loire and Rhône remained on high alert a good part of the night, there are no more departments in red. Ardèche, a department particularly affected with rains which reached 600 to 700 millimeters in certain areas, has changed back to yellow and the decline begins. The situation seems to be calming down everywhere in the countryAfter “a rather exceptional episode” :“The Cévennes episode is over. A few showers are still possible, but not comparable to the rainy episode of the last two days”specifies the organization.

Departments on orange alert for floods : Landes, Pyrénées-Atlantiques, Haute-Loire, Loire, Puy-de-Dôme, Gard, Bouches-du-Rhône, Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, Alpes-Maritimes.

Departments on orange alert for rain-flood, particularly in the South-West: Pyrénées-Atlantiques, Hautes-Pyrénées, Gers, Lot-et-Garonne, Lot, Tarn-et-Garonne, Haute-Garonne, Ariège, Dordogne, Tarn.

More than 700 mm of water in places in Ardèche, the decline begins

Exceptional rain fell on the Ardèche department, placing the weather on red alert. The night from Thursday to Friday was “relatively calm”reassured Sophie Elizéon, prefect of Ardèche, at the microphone of France Inter this Friday morning.

More than 700 mm of water fell in places, notably on Thursday morning, causing impressive flooding. 686 mm were reached in Mayres and 680 mm in Loubaresse, according to Météo-France. There town of Annonay was particularly affected by this stormy episode. “The water came up to the ceiling” in certain houses in the town transformed into a lake, with very heavy damage. Never seen before in the memory of Ardéchois. Three people were slightly injured. The rainy episode was very impressive with rivers passing over the bridges, also said the mayor of Saint-Julien-d’Intres, still in Ardèche.

In the department, 500 people were brought to safetyfirefighters carried out 47 rescues, indicates France Bleu Drôme Ardèche. If “the decline is beginning to begin”schools remain closed this Friday, indicated the prefecture.

In the Loire and Haute-Loire, rivers always monitored

The departments of Loire and Haute-Loire are on orange alert this Friday morning, with particular attention to several rivers including the Gier, the Lignon, the Loire and the Allier. At least one ten people spent the night in the Escoffier nursery schoolin Rive-de Gier, one of the most affected municipalitieswhere the alert was lifted at 1:30 a.m. this morning. The water rose up to 1m10 in some homes. According to residents, these floods are worse than those of 2008, an episode which had nevertheless marked everyone’s minds.

The Loire prefecture announced this Friday morning the reopening of the A47 motorway in both directions, for light vehicles, but not for heavy goods vehicles. Rail traffic remains disrupted: the Saint-Étienne – Lyon and Saint-Étienne – Le Puy lines are still closed.

Following the bad weather, nearly 4,000 homes were “impacted” in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes on Thursday evening, said ENEDIS, contacted by franceinfo. In the Loire, 2,400 homes were affected, 900 in the Rhône and 500 in the Ardèche.

A “flash flood” in Lanteuil near Brive

The Brive sector and the south of Corrèze were the most affected by the very heavy rains which fell this Thursday afternoon in Limousin. The town of Lanteuil experienced a “flash flood”, reports France Bleu Limousin. “The flow of the river went from 0 to 100 in half an hour. It’s unheard of”declared Mayor Christian Derachinois. Around ten houses in the town were flooded. Streets were damaged and the cemetery wall collapsed, letting a big wave pour over the graves.

In the neighboring department of Dordogne, the Vézère begins to overflow at Montignac, noted France Bleu Périgord. The mayor fears that the river will overflow further during the day or on Saturday if it continues to rain, particularly in neighboring Corrèze, from where water flows. Heavy amounts of rain were recorded in Domme, Monpazier and Salignac-Eyvigues.

The main rivers “have returned to more classic levels” in the Gard

The worst of the Cevennes episode seems to have passed in the Gard this Friday morning after another night of rain. “We are starting to feel relieved after staying up all night”confided Jean-Christian Rey, President of the Gard Rhone agglomeration community, at France Bleu Gard Lozère. The main rivers “have returned to more classic levels”according to Vigicrues. The Rhône must be particularly monitored this Friday, assures the organization.

In Vaucluse, the level of the historic 2003 flood almost reached in Pont-Saint-Esprit

In Vaucluse, the river reached its peak around 8 p.m. in the north of Vaucluse then at 1 a.m. in Avignon. In the Pont-Saint-Esprit sector, the Rhône came close to 9 meters and approached the level of the historic flood of 2003, note France Bleu Vaucluse. In Avignon, on the other hand, the Rhône rose to 5.48 meters, below the flood of November 2016 (5.70m) and well below the historic flood of 2002 (6.73m). Several roads remain closed this Friday in the department.

In the Alpes-Maritimes, rains less intense than expected

The Alpes-Maritimes department went red on Thursday evening before being downgraded to orange very early in the morning on Friday. The Mediterranean episode is over with accumulations ultimately less significant than expectedin a department traumatized by successive storms and floods. Seven people were still evacuated between Tende and Saint-Dalmas-de-Tende, as a precaution.

A man killed by a falling tree in Paris

In the context of these bad weather and in circumstances which have yet to be established, a man was killed par the fall of a tree on the roadway of a street in the 19th arrondissement from Paris. He is a 49-year-old father. Her two children, aged 3 and 5, were also injured.

More rain this weekend?

The situation is calming almost everywhere in the country, but the precipitation will continue during the weekend. There will be “still a little bit of rain this weekend, but fortunately in lesser proportions”reassures this Friday on franceinfo Guillaume Ferry, operations director of Predict service, a subsidiary of Météo France.