The Rhône has reached its peak in Avignon, several axes remain closed to traffic

The level of the Rhône begins to fall and the department of Vaucluse returns to yellow alert for floods. The Rhône river reached its peak around 8 p.m. in the north of Vaucluse then at 1 a.m. in Avignon, according to Vigicrues. In the Pont-Saint-Esprit sector, the Rhône came close to 9 meters and approached the level of the historic flood of 2003. In Avignon, on the other hand, the Rhône rose to 5.48 meters, in -below the flood of November 2016 (5.70m) and well below the historic flood of 2002 (6.73m).

The decline will now take several more hours before returning to normal. And traffic remains disrupted this Friday. The traffic routes closed since 6 p.m. Thursday are still closed this Friday morning: it remains impossible to travel on the alleys of Oulle and on the tourist route from Docteur Pons to Avignon. The Daladier bridge and the Kingdom bridge between Avignon and Villeneuve-les-Avignon also remain closed until further notice.

Avignon town hall recommends teleworking, as much as possible, or coming by public transport: they are free all day on the Orizo network.

And in the north of the department: the prefecture counts seven roads closed :

RD238 between Caderousse and Codolet
RD237 between Caderousse and Roquemaure
RD994 between the Bout du Pont roundabout and the Gard (Vieux Bridge)
RD44 to Mondragon
N86 in Lamotte-du-Rhône
RD63 between Lapalud and Pont-Saint-Esprit
RD63A between Lamotte-sur-Rhône and Lapalud

A peak at 8 meters 80 in Lamotte-du-Rhône

The mayor of Lamotte-du-Rhône confirmed to us on France Bleu Vaucluse that the evening from Thursday to Friday was calm. “The peak was reached Thursday at 8.80m at 9 p.m. Departmental road 63 remains closed but also 44”underlines Juan Garcia. The mayor admits to being relieved.

No injuries were reported in Vaucluse. The firefighters received a few calls, but mainly from worried Vauclusians after receiving an alert on their phone yesterday at the end of the day.