Annonay, Toulouse, Nice, Paris… Intense precipitation has fallen over a large part of France since Wednesday October 17, with very significant rainfall amounts.
A flood. “Exceptional” rain fell this Thursday, October 17 in the Center-East and South-East of France and continued early this Friday on waterlogged soils. Intense rainfall has hit the country since the middle of the week, Météo-France having placed, at the height of the episode, 6 departments on red alert and 34 on orange alert.
But where did it rain the most? Thanks to data provided by Météo-ciel and Météo-France, BFMTV.com allows you to view the places where the rain fell the most between Wednesday October 16 and Thursday October 17.
As you can see on the map, the areas most affected by the rain were the Cévennes and the Ardèche terrain, but also the Alpes-Maritimes and the Pyrénées-Atlantiques.
The record is attributed to the town of Vialas, in Lozère, where a cumulative amount of 711 mm was recorded. Second place goes to Mayres, a small town of 257 inhabitants in Ardèche: a cumulative 686 mm of rain was recorded in 48 hours. Concretely, if this rain had fallen evenly over an area of one square meter, the water line would be located 68.6 centimeters above the ground.
“It’s absolutely massive.”
According to Minister Agnès Pannier-Runacher, the south of France faced “three different meteorological episodes: a Cévennes episode in Ardèche, a Mediterranean episode in the Alpes-Maritimes and a depression which [est remontée] from the Pyrénées-Atlantiques towards the north”. It reached the Paris region in the evening, causing flooding in the streets of the capital.
“We are facing a situation which is unprecedented in its scale. 600 millimeters of water on the Ardèche is unheard of in living memory,” said Agnès Pannier-Runacher during a press briefing. “600 millimeters is more than 60 centimeters of water that fell in 48 hours. It’s absolutely massive.”
Classified as red alert for rain-floods, the Alpes-Maritimes department was downgraded to orange overnight, according to a Météo France bulletin published shortly after 3 a.m. It joins the 29 other departments still on orange alert for rain-floods, floods or storms, mainly in the southern half of the country, according to the organization’s forecasts.
In the Center-East, four departments (Rhône, Loire, Haute-Loire and Lozère) are still placed on red flood alert for this Friday, October 18.
