The equivalent of two months of precipitation fell in three hours.

Torrential rains fell on Agen (Lot-et-Garonne) on Wednesday evening, causing flooding in several streets of the city center, said emergency services, weather services and an AFP correspondent on the spot.

According to firefighters, no victim was to be deplored shortly before midnight.

#Agen underwater.

Terrible flooding in part of downtown #flooding pic.twitter.com/C3stLyvdr1

- Patrick Anselmetti (@P_Anselmetti) September 8, 2021

#intemperie: in #agen, rue fon de raché is flooded #floods pic.twitter.com/mZFNwEhZ79

- Carine Caussieu (@carinecauss) September 8, 2021

#agen #flooding water is coming at an incredible speed pic.twitter.com/lVGsL6Ylxq

- Mélanie Kieffer (@ TheStellina69) September 8, 2021

Flooding rue des cartiers, practically 1meter 50 of water in the street #orages #agen pic.twitter.com/DFTlHS93nT

- Yannick Boyer-Chenou (@Boy_yan_) September 8, 2021

Between 7 p.m. and 10 p.m., the Agen-Estillac resort recorded an absolute record of 129 mm of rain, and 3,000 lightning bolts were detected in Lot-et-Garonne over this period.

At around 11 p.m., after a thunderstorm had passed, several streets in the city center were flooded, car traffic stopped, with a level of water reaching the knees of passers-by and rushing into houses, noted a correspondent of the 'AFP on site.

32 departments on orange alert

According to the town hall, the water has risen up to 2 meters in some streets, forcing firefighters to intervene to put people to safety.

The city is working to rehouse the disaster victims, with many basements and garages flooded.

Thirty-two departments, from Occitanie to Ile-de-France, including Lot-et-Garonne, had been placed by Météo-France on orange vigilance for the risk of thunderstorms and flooding on Wednesday and Thursday.

By late afternoon, thunderstorms had multiplied in the north of New Aquitaine, in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques and in Normandy.

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