With the arrival of former Hurricane Kirk, now classified as a depression, 19 departments, mainly located in the west of France, have been placed on orange vigilance for rain-flood starting this Wednesday, October 9, 6 a.m. Loire-Atlantique and Vendée are part of this.
The equivalent of a month of rain in one day
“There was a slight delay, we expected a lot of rain in Vendée, it will be more Loire-Atlantique, Steven Tual, meteorologist, administrator of the Facebook and X Temps Breton pages. We’re expecting 100mm of rain, that’s the equivalent of a month in just 12 hours.” Quantities which should be greater than the thresholds of October 2, 2021, the last significant episode of severe weather during this period in Loire-Atlantique and Vendée.
“We are still worried about the expected quantities of water, it will increase from this afternoon, what we fear is the intensity of the precipitation, the hourly volume with 10 to 20 mm per hour. hour, it will be like watering a sponge already saturated with water”adds the forecaster, guest of France Bleu Loire Océan this morning. The episode should ending around 7 or 8 p.m. on the coast, and an hour later inland.
Waterlogged soils
Very large quantities of water are expected to fall in Loire-Atlantique, just like in Vendée, also placed on yellow alert for wind. Rainfall accumulations will be very significant, up to 90 mm. This represents the equivalent of a month of rain in a single day, Météo-France alert. Given that the floors are already very wetthe risk of flooding is very high.
In a press release this Tuesday noon, the Vendée prefecture, noted “that a risk of accumulations even higher than those mentioned is not completely excluded in the south of Pays de la Loire, which could in this case require an increase in the level of vigilance.” It calls for extreme caution when traveling.
The Vendée river, on orange alert for floods
This Wednesday morning, the Vendée prefecture announced that The Vendée river is placed on orange alert for floods. While the Lay and Sèvre Nantaise rivers are on yellow alert for floods. There could be overflows in places, warns the Vendée prefecture. HAS Mareuil-sur-Laythe Lay should pass 1.50 m this Wednesday afternoon, according to the observatory Vigicrues. And to Saint Mesminnear Pouzauges, the Sèvre Nantaise which was at 1.28 m this Tuesday evening should rise by more than a meter to reach 2.60 m this Wednesday at 2 p.m. Be careful also around the Vendée river whose flow increases as at Foussais-Payré, and then at La Roche-sur-Yonseveral streets or paths on the banks of the Yon or Ornay will be closed as a precaution by the town hall.
Farmers at the end
To think that this exceptional rainfall has lasted for a year. October 18, 2023 remembers precisely this farmer from Beauvoir-sur-Mer which evokes the soaked cropsdifficult or even impossible to harvest. Dangerous even because the machines, the combine harvesters get blocked with the soaked corn or sunflower. “Last weekend, two colleagues wanted to push the sunflowers with their feet, they were amputated”. Et Bertrand Mitard who is also at the FDSEA evokes farmers on the verge of a nervous breakdown.
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The SNCF for its part, invites its users to find out before going to the station. Because traffic could be disrupted.
In Nantes, parks and enclosed gardens will be closed this Wednesday, October 9.
In the marshes, the floodgates are wide open to evacuate
As for the marshes, those responsible were able to anticipate. The floodgates open at each tide since Sunday evening. If in Loire-Atlantique, the director of the Brière park appears reassuring, ” we should be able to absorb all the water that will fall” says Eric Provost, the people of Vendée are a little less serene. Pascal Retureau, president of the authorized trade union association of Dain marsh which manages nearly 2,000 hectares of marshes on the side of Beauvoir-sur-Mer and Saint-Gervais assures to have anticipated but crosses his fingers. “If it rains a lot in a very short time, we won’t be able to evacuate everything.”
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