600 mm of rain in 60 hours causes serious flooding in France

Severe floods struck several cities in France after large amounts of rain fell, described as exceptional, yesterday and in recent days, prompting the country to mobilize massively to help those affected. The rains hit central-eastern France, the southeast of the country and Ile-de-France hard. Ten departments remain on orange alert.

Cars submerged in currents in a shopping area in Givord, central eastern France, after heavy rains hit the area Jean-Philippe Ksiazek/AFP/Metsol Meteorological

Prime Minister Michel Barnier noted on Friday that emergency services had carried out 2,300 interventions so far in the heaviest episode of rain in the Cevennes mountain range “in 40 years”, which saved lives.

The Prime Minister expressed his “solidarity and support” for the victims of bad weather, following a visit to the Inter-Ministerial Crisis Management Operational Center, accompanied by Interior Minister Bruno Ritello.

He stressed that “priority” will be given to re-establishing road and rail traffic between Saint-Etienne and Lyon, explaining that Minister of Ecological Transition and Energy Agnes Pannier-Ronacher and Minister of Security Nicolas Daragon will also go to Ardèche and Lyon. In the Loire.

Nearly 3,000 firefighters were still on hand Friday. A gendarmerie helicopter carries out reconnaissance flights over the disaster areas to assess the damage.

“We are facing something huge,” commented the Minister of Ecological Transition, Agnes Pannier-Runacher, on BFM TV/RMC. According to her, “We must prepare for the resurgence of these types of events linked to climate change.”

After flooding and cleaning. In Haute Loire, a department particularly hard hit by bad weather in recent days, residents, municipal agents and firefighters are organizing to clean up mud and damage caused by rain and floods.

“It is an unprecedented situation in its scope: 600 millimeters of water in the Ardèche is unheard of in memory,” Minister Agnes Pannier-Ronacher said during a press conference. He explained that “more than 600 mm fell within 48 hours.”

In Ardèche, the spell of rain in the Cévennes was the heaviest in two days on record, according to the official French weather service Météo-France. Many areas were already affected last week by depression Kirk. The heavy rains contributed to the soil being completely saturated with water.

Six departments were placed on red alert due to heavy rains and flooding yesterday, which Mitty France described as “exceptional.” In 20 years, only the January 2022 episode saw the same number of departments simultaneously on red alert for heavy rains and flooding.

The area was flooded after heavy rain in Annonay, central France, yesterday afternoon. The city center was flooded and schools and day care centers were evacuated due to the flooding. | Jeff Bachaud/AFP/Metsol Meteorology

Buildings near the La Nive River flood in Bayonne, southwest France, with several French departments exposed to flooding. French meteorology put the departments of Ardèche, Rhône, Haute-Loire, Lozère, Lozère and Alpes-Maritimes on red alert due to floods. | Gaizka Eroz/AFP/Metsol Meteorological

In Lozère and Ardèche, 200mm marks from the event spread across the mountains of Lozère-Cevennes and Vivares, with local accumulations clearly exceeding 600mm in two days. Throughout the entire episode, i.e. 60 hours, the accumulated rainfall as of 9am on Friday (Paris time) amounted to 694 mm in Maires (Ardèche), or more than two months of rain, an unprecedented amount for all months combined; And 686 mm in Loparis (Ardeche), or more than two months of rain, which is also an unprecedented value for all months combined.

In the Maritime Alps, accumulations reached 30 to 60 mm on the coast, with higher amounts isolated, as in Mandelieu-la-Napoule which recorded 149 mm. Inland, 100 mm to 150 mm are observed with local marks of 200 mm to 300 mm in terrain areas, as at Cawsol (1268 m) with 325 mm or even 256 mm at Corsejoles (985 m) and 156 mm at Saint Martin. Vesubi (1000 m).

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