The Gier, a river which flows into the Rhône south of Lyon, was placed on red flood alert this Thursday morning.
Residents were taken by surprise by the bad weather.
In Givors, a shopping center was completely flooded, and motorists stranded on the highway.
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Storms, thunderstorms, floods… the weather is getting out of hand in France
Schools evacuated, trains stopped, motorways closed and populations sealed off: “exceptional” rains have forced the Haute-Loire, Ardèche, Rhône and Loire, placed on red alert for floods or floods, to redouble their efforts. precaution. Enough to wreak havoc in the Lyon region, where all eyes are focused on the Gier, the overflowing river.
In Givors, a commune in the Rhône department, located in the metropolis of Lyon, a shopping center was crossed by a torrent, as we can see in the video at the top of this article. The water is reaching the doors of the shops, some have already lowered the curtain. In a DIY store, water invades all the shelves. The 13H team was able to contact a resident of Givors holed up in her restaurant: “Suddenly, a torrent arrived, cars no longer passed, the police came to tell us to evacuate, but it’s too late, we’re stuck.”
A little further, on the A47 motorway, hundreds of motorists are stranded, the lanes are flooded, the road is impassable, cars are trapped. A motorist, who barely had time to get out of his vehicle to take refuge at a height, explains what happened to him in the TF1 subject to be found at the top of this article: “The car in front was able to continue, but for us, the car apparently went to safety, the key lit up red, and then it stopped, so we found ourselves stuck under the bridge.”
The Lyon region which goes from yellow to red in a few hours
In just three hours, there were three alert levels this Thursday in the Rhône department: yellow, then orange and finally red, even though the rain was already falling heavily. Asked by TF1, Robin Weber, meteorologist in Lyon, takes stock: “Last night, the forecasts were still uncertain, so it is understandable that the orange vigilance was not triggered but this morning, when the Rhône was already in the precipitation axis at 6 a.m., it might have “It was necessary to set an orange alert. This could have warned the population, especially since the rainy episode started at midnight.”
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Schools closed, roads cut… The south of France faces exceptional flooding
Water reaches the villages. The power of the current carries everything in its path. The Rhône prefecture announces that train traffic between Lyon and Saint-Etienne is also interrupted.
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