UPDATE ON THE SITUATION – The Herminia depression, which has caused several departments in western France to be put on alert, is sweeping across Brittany and the Atlantic coast, causing numerous disruptions.
A flood never seen for more than 40 years in Rennes, gusts of more than 100 km/h, the Vendée Globe village closed, rail and road traffic disrupted: the Herminia depression played spoilsport on Sunday in the west of the country.
Herminia follows storm Éowyn, which was exceptionally violent across the Channel and particularly in Ireland. It brought rain and gales to the north-west of France, in areas where the soil is already saturated with water. Météo-France has placed the Pyrénées-Atlantiques, the Hautes-Pyrénées and the Rhône on orange wind alert until Monday. Finistère and Côtes-d’Armor were downgraded to yellow vigilance in the middle of the day.
Morbihan will turn orange for rain-flood from 6 p.m. Sunday. Calvados, Ille-et-Vilaine, Mayenne and Orne will remain on orange flood alert until Monday. Water will continue to rise throughout the region, Vigicrues warned.
“After a slight lull in precipitation, the new rains this Sunday will generate new reactions on many rivers. On rivers already in flood, further increases are expected.indicated the flood information service in its latest bulletin. For Rennes, “it’s the equivalent of 15 days of precipitation” which could still fall, indicated the mayor of the city.
Le Figaro takes stock of the multiple disruptions caused by this violent weather phenomenon.
The city of Rennes partly flooded
In the Breton capital, crossed by two rivers, the Ille and the Vilaine, “we are today (Sunday) at values which are higher than those we observed in 1981, which was a reference year for a significant flood”commented the mayor, Nathalie Appéré, during a press briefing on Sunday morning.
The rising waters of the Ille et Rance canal led the town hall to issue an evacuation order for four streets on Saturday evening. Residents are asked to find refuge with relatives or in one of the three gymnasiums opened by the city. A crisis unit was opened at the town hall.
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“We issued an evacuation order yesterday (Saturday) evening on four streets (…), homes which are behind a dike which normally protects them, and there the water went above the dike”said Nathalie Appéré. The area has around a hundred homes, according to the mayor. “Most of the people went to relatives (…) and we had 26 people welcomed last night” in one of the two gyms, she added.
This district wedged between the Ille and Rance canal and Ille had its feet in the water on Sunday.
-Closure of the Vendée Globe village
Further south, in Les Sables d’Olonne, the Vendée Globe village, established since the start of the round-the-world sailing race on November 10, was closed to the public.
According to a source close to the race management, the poor conditions could force the skippers Benjamin Dutreux and Clarisse Crémer, expected on Sunday, to take shelter in La Rochelle (Charente-Maritime) or Lorient (Morbihan) once the line has passed offshore. from the Vendée city because entering the port could be too dangerous.
Trains canceled and road difficulties
The Herminia depression also led to train cancellations in Normandy, where gusts of up to 110 km/h are expected, SNCF announced.
Traffic, particularly between Paris and Cherbourg and between Caen and Rennes, should be disrupted on Sunday and Monday, the railway company warned.
Same in Brittany, with the suspension of traffic on the lines between Quimper and Landerneau since 8:30 a.m. and between Rennes and Saint-Malo from 9 p.m.
Snow showers fell overnight in Mayenne, disrupting road traffic.
A British boater disappeared off the coast of Gironde
A 73-year-old British boater, who was sailing alone off the Gironde, is missing in the Atlantic, the Maritime Prefecture announced on Sunday. The sailboat sailing under the American flag was located Friday evening about 185 km west of the mouth of the Gironde estuary, despite a weather alert, but its sole occupant, a British septuagenarian, had indicated by radio that he was safe and continue on your way.
However, its emergency beacon was activated on Saturday afternoon about 80 km west of Lacanau (Gironde), leading to the intervention of emergency services. “At 5:30 p.m., the helicopter arriving in the area found the gutted sailboat and winched up its two divers who discovered the empty raft”explained the Maritime Prefecture (Prémar) of the Atlantic in a press release.
Despite the deployment of a Falcon 50 aircraft from the French Navy and a Caiman helicopter, as well as the diversion of two ships, the search was suspended “lack of new elements” around 1:30 a.m. during the night from Saturday to Sunday.
“The Atlantic maritime prefecture recalls the precautionary instructions relating to navigation and the practice of water sports during winter with numerous depressions”she stressed.
