Lozère and Gard are on orange alert for rain-flooding and thunderstorms, Wednesday October 16. In the Cévennes, widespread accumulations of “200 to 300 millimeters” are expected on the Cévennes relief, with “points at 350 millimeters or more“, over 48 hours, by the end of the day Thursday, warns the meteorological agency.
“In Lozère, we have already recorded on certain weather stations almost 100 mm of rain in two or three hours, this is the equivalent of the cumulative rain of floods in the north of France” in November 2023 then in January 2024, indicated this Wednesday on franceinfo Patrick Marlière, meteorologist and director of Medias-Weather.
Lozère and Gard were placed at this level of vigilance on Tuesday afternoon for an autumnal episode in the Cévennes described as “classic” by Météo France. “This Wednesday, it is really Lozère and Ardèche which are the most affected” where “the storms are particularly violent“, observes the meteorologist.
“If we look at the weather models this morning, cumulatively, we could exceed 300 mm, or even on the Cévennes reliefs, 400 mm, that’s four times more than what fell last week in the center of the country“, he explains. “The Cévennes episodes in themselves are regular phenomena (…), the phenomenon itself is not exceptionalhe emphasizes, but the quantities of rain are increasing and inevitably, this is linked to climate change“Floods are expected.”on many“regions, believes Patrick Marlière, all the more”that the quantities of rain in recent weeks have saturated the soil with water“.
“The vigilance which was mainly on the Cévennes, extends to the south-east of the country this Wednesday morning“. THURSDAY, “storms will intensify across the entire Aquitaine coast“, leading to monitoring of “many regions at least until Friday morning“, underlines the expert.
Due to the heavy rains falling on Gard and Lozère, the SNCF is interrupting traffic between Alès (Gard) and Langogne (Lozère) this Wednesday morning, reports France Bleu Gard Lozère. Trains are canceled at least until 3 p.m. SNCF agents must also carry out checks on the line between Nîmes and Alès to check that there are no obstacles on the tracks.
