Ille-et-Vilaine placed on red alert for “floods”, eight other departments on orange vigilance

A flood never seen for more than 40 years affects the city of Rennes in particular, where the flood peak has not yet been reached.

Very high rainfall totals. Météo-France placed the Ille-et-Vilaine department on red “flood” alert on Monday January 27. A major flood, “higher than that of 1966”according to Vigicrues, is expected for the Seiche river and for a section of the Vilaine, a “major flood” exceeding that, “historical”, from January 1995, and “could reach the levels of the 2001 flood”. With the rains expected today, the flood phase will continue today and tomorrow. This heavy precipitation is the consequence of the passage of storm Herminia. Already on Sunday, roads were cut and residents evacuated, as well as a clinic.

Eight other departments are placed on orange alert: two for the risk of “waves-submersion” on the coast (Finistère and Morbihan), five others for the risk of flooding (Calvados, Eure, Maine-et-Loire, Mayenne, Orne) and one for avalanche risk (Hautes-Alpes). For Finistère and Morbihan, orange vigilance begins at 1 p.m. For the Hautes-Alpes from 10 hours. “As the heavy precipitation is expected in the Southern Alps, remarkable avalanche activity will take place. Precipitation occurs approximately every 5 to 8 years in the massifs concerned,” specifies Météo-France.