The red alert for floods has been lifted for the departments of Mayenne and Maine-et-Loire, which have been returned to orange, in the context of “exceptional overflows” of the Oudon, notably in Craon (Mayenne) where the river flooded the city center, well exceeding its historic level of 1996.
The Minister of Ecological Transition, Christophe Béchu, is due to go there on Friday morning, in particular to meet the victims and the emergency services and visit the affected areas, according to a press release from his services.
In the town center of Craon, 4,500 inhabitants, several streets were flooded at the height of the flood at midday, with water rising waist-deep in places.
“My cellar is completely submerged”
“In my garden, there is more than a meter of water. My cellar is completely submerged. Inside, (the water) has also risen, I raised all the furniture”says Claude Gilet, 70 years old, rubber boots on his feet.
The rescuers, pushing a yellow canoe, went to meet the residents who did not wish to evacuate. A firefighter monitors the area using a drone.
“Since I have lived here in 1948, I have never seen this,” assures Henri Robert, 78 years old. “When I left around noon, I had a table floating in the garden and more than 20 cm of water in the house”. He was not allowed to return there upon his return.
The Oudon, the only river in Mayenne and Maine-et-Loire to be affected by the red “flood” alert until Friday morning, reached a level of 3 early Thursday afternoon in Craon, 25 meters, well beyond the “historic flood” of 1996 (2.86 m), according to Vigicrues which reports “exceptional overflows” of the watercourse.
The decline began at the beginning of the afternoon and the level of the Oudon had fallen to around 3 meters by mid-evening, according to the Mayenne prefecture.
“The levels of damaging overflows have been reached” Thursday and “the declines have begun in the upstream sectors”communicated Météo-France Friday morning, indicating that on the Oudon, “Levels will remain high on Friday as floods continue to spread.”
According to a press release from Craon town hall, 115 homes – or 350 inhabitants – are located in the area affected by the floods.
In Craon, a community hall was opened to accommodate people forced to leave their homes during the flood.
In Cossé-le-Vivien, in Mayenne, some 182 mm of water fell in 36 hours, the equivalent of three months of precipitation, according to Météo France.
“Heavy stormy precipitation”
Friday morning, Météo-France downgraded Mayenne and Maine-et-Loire to orange alert for floods, a level which also concerns Isère, Yonne and Nièvre.
Seven departments are on orange “rain-flood” vigilance across the country: Hautes-Alpes, Eure-et-Loir, Isère, Loir-et-Cher, Loiret, Sarthe and Savoie.
Some 62.6 mm of cumulative precipitation was recorded on Friday at 5:00 a.m. in Saint-Mathurin-sur-Loire, in Maine-et-Loire, according to meteorologists.
The Nièvre department also suffered heavy rain during the night from Wednesday to Thursday, with around forty roads cut. Hail fell on Beaujolais, without causing significant damage according to Inter Beaujolais, an inter-professional body.
“This destroyed part of the harvest (…) but there will still be enough to make wine,” Benjamin Passot, a winegrower in Vauxrenard, told AFP, preferring to see the glass half full.
