these dams on the Rhône and the Loire have been put to the test

FLOODS – Open the floodgates. Following the passage of an extraordinary episode in the Cévennes in several departments of the south of France, the flow of the Rhône and the Loire severely tested the dams on these rivers.

As you can see in the video at the top of the articlethe infrastructures of Villerest (Loire) and Vallabrègues (Gard) were subjected to impressive torrents. Images filmed in particular this Friday October 18 by the mayor of Roanne Yves Nicolin, who specifies that the Villerest dam “perfectly plays its role as a flood limiter and thus releases 1000 m³ every second! ». “Luckily, because otherwise Roanne would be partly drowned”adds the elected official on his Facebook page.

According to the newspaper Progressthe four gates of this hydroelectric structure had been opened Thursday afternoon to lower the level of the water body by two meters which was already at its winter level.

Further south, near Beaucaire (Gard), the Vallabrègues dam also suffered the spectacular repercussions of the flood. Provence announced Thursday that a crisis unit has been opened at the town hall to monitor the cubic meters passing through the spillway and a future flow rate of at least 8,000 m3/second.

The Minister of Ecological Transition Agnès Pannier-Runacher on Thursday described the episode of torrential rains which hit certain areas of Ardèche as “absolutely massive” and mentioned a “unprecedented situation”. “We are facing a situation that is unprecedented in its scale. 600 millimeters of water on the Ardèche is unheard of in living memory indicated the minister during a press briefing. 600 millimeters is more than 60 centimeters of water that fell in 48 hours. It’s absolutely massive. »

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