An orange rain and flood vigilance concerns eleven departments, from Jura to the Alpes-Maritimes, including Ardèche.
Gard is also concerned.
In this department, marked by catastrophic floods 10 years ago, everyone is on alert.
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Weather report
Municipal officials are standing by. While eleven departments, including Gard, have been placed on rain-flood storm alert by Météo-France, municipalities are preparing to cut off certain traffic points in the event of a sharp rise in water levels. “We’re going to spend the night watching to close the barrier at the right time”explains Jean-Christian Rey, deputy mayor, in Bagnols-sur-Cèze, where a footbridge risks being submerged by the watercourse it spans.
“When the water level is above 3 meters, you have large trunks which are carried away. Then once you are on top, there is an absolutely incredible current. If you are caught in the current, it’s very complicated to be able to get out of it”he underlines again in the TF1 report at the top of this article.
Municipalities supported by Météo-France
In this town, while teams are mobilized to monitor risk areas, the mayor pre-records messages. They will be sent to nearly 8,000 homes this Tuesday, October 8, early in the morning. “I say that we should not go near the banks. Of course, when we have a flood, we want to go see the Cèze which is overflowing. Except that we put ourselves in danger”regrets Jean-Yves Chapelet (Divers Left).
The municipal team is also kept informed of developments in the situation by the company Predict, a subsidiary of Météo France. It supports the municipalities before and during the Cévennes episodes. “We recommend that municipalities activate municipal cells for the night and in advance, secure sensitive points, ford crossings, inform the population”specifies Alix Roumagnac, president of the company.
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Some municipalities still remember the terrible floods which took place in Montpellier and its surroundings, ten years ago to the day. This is the case in Grabels, where a new retention basin has just been inaugurated. “This dam allows a retention basin to no longer accumulate 25,000 m³ like last time, but 160,000 m³. We have the means to cope with an event identical to 2014 by managing this additional mass of water”welcomes the mayor, René Revol (LFI).
The rains are expected to intensify during the night of Monday October 7 to Tuesday October 8. Météo-France predicts accumulations of around a hundred millimeters, in three to six hours.
