The south-east of France is affected by an episode in the Cévennes this Wednesday, October 16. Heavy rainfall and severe thunderstorms are expected. Five departments have been placed on orange vigilance by Météo France.
An episode in the Cévennes began during the night from Tuesday to Wednesday with significant amounts of rain in several departments in the south-east of France. In its 6 a.m. bulletin, this Wednesday, October 16, Météo France warns several departments. Lozère, Gard, Alpes-Maritimes, Ardèche and Var have been placed on orange alert for the risk of storms and rain-flooding. The accumulations could increase on the reliefs. Météo France, for example, notes 97mm of rain fell in Les Rousse in Lozère.
The very heavy rain accumulations expected require particular vigilance. In the Var and Alpes Maritimes, the intense rain-storm episode is worrying due to its intensity and the sensitivity of the potentially impacted areas. In the Cévennes, the rains will weaken in the evening but will resume on Thursday. By the end of Thursday, accumulations over 48 hours of “200 to 300mm widespread over the Cévennes relief and peaks of 350mm or more” are expected, says Météo France. On Thursday alone, “between 150 and 200mm are expected on the relief of the Cévennes”, or around a month of rain specifies La Chaîne Météo.
“In the Var and the Alpes-Maritimes, during the day on Wednesday, sometimes not very mobile storms could produce 80 to 120mm in a few hours,” indicates the meteorological station. “Rains, locally sustained and sometimes stormy, are irrigating the regions from the Italian border to the Rhône valley, from the Cévennes to the Languedoc coast as well as Corsica. These rains weaken temporarily in the evening, but reactivate on Thursday” , indicates Météo France this Wednesday morning.
This Wednesday evening, and during the night, “the stormy rains are essentially limited to the relief of the Cévennes and Mercantour while other rains rise from the Bay of Biscay to the west of the Massif Central”, indicates La Chaîne Météo. Be careful, heavy and lasting rain will also fall on the French-Spanish border with a southerly wind reaching 80 to 100 km/h on the Pyrenean ridges. “A new disturbance also gives rain from Cotentin to Brittany in the morning, it stretches in the afternoon from Normandy to New Aquitaine, taking on a stormy character in places,” says Météo France.
