the essential
The bad weather that has been hitting the western Pyrenees since Friday evening is causing flooding. The Lourdes grotto is under water, and a road collapse has occurred on a national road in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques. Five departments are still on orange alert for rain and flooding.
The heavy rainfall that has been falling since Friday, September 6 in the southwest of the country has caused its first damage. In Lourdes, images show the grotto and the sanctuary of Lourdes completely flooded, due to the significant flooding of the Gave de Pau.
\ud83c\udf0a The Gave de Pau is experiencing a major flood this Saturday. The sacred grotto of Lourdes is under water! \ud83c\udf27\ufe0f (\u00a9 webcam Lourdes) pic.twitter.com/7FFybMpP6W
— Meteor Express (@MeteoExpress) https://twitter.com/MeteoExpress/status/1832341997807403289?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
The Grotto of Lourdes was evacuated this morning around 6 o’clock while the mass was taking place in English. The water of the Gave, which crosses the Sanctuary, overflowed the parapet and flooded the grotto of the Sanctuary of Lourdes.
France cut off from Spain by the RN134
A road also collapsed, as the authorities discovered this Saturday morning in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques.
The prefecture announced on social media, with photos to support it, the collapse that occurred on national road 134, near the town of Urdos, “between the town centre and the Somport tunnel, making traffic impossible”.
#Bad weather / Closure of RN134
\u26a0\ufe0f A road collapse occurred on the RN134 in the commune of Urdos, between the town centre and the Somport tunnel, making traffic impossible (location: PK 109 800).
\ud83d\udc49 The prefect has activated the traffic management plan… pic.twitter.com/mByMh9LmHn— Prefect of Pyrénées-Atlantiques (@Prefet64) https://twitter.com/Prefet64/status/1832310944535306445?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
The road is in fact literally cut in two, in this very mountainous sector of the Pyrenees chain, where traffic is dense, since the RN 1347 links the town of Jaca, in Spain, to Oloron-Sainte-Marie.
“The prefect has activated the RN134 traffic management plan to manage the consequences on traffic,” the prefecture announced on social networks, inviting users to avoid the area.
In addition, the bad weather caused flooding in several areas of the Hautes-Pyrénées, with images of flooded roads between Saint-Lary and Piau-Engaly, as reported by Météo-Pyrénées’ X account.
