Very heavy rainfall to be expected in the south of France.
The Gard, but also the Ardèche and the Drôme were still on orange alert for “storms and floods” this Sunday morning.
The Hérault saw its monitoring lifted after a rainstorm episode that occurred overnight but which lost in intensity.
"It looked like fireworks"
The thunderstorms are active in the north-east of the Hérault and the west of the Gard. They are locally accompanied by hail, noted Météo-France in its last bulletin of 8:20 am, noting in particular "accumulations over 3 hours of 119 millimeters in Saint Christol-les-Alès or 104 millimeters in Salindres", in the Gard. "Some showers still affect the north of Hérault but no longer justify orange vigilance", adds the same source, specifying that "it fell 50 to 60 millimeters on the north of the department".
The north of Gard, and in particular the Alès sector, was particularly affected during the night by violent storms, recording "up to 140 millimeters of precipitation, sometimes in the form of hail, without however causing significant flooding at this time. hour ”, according to a press release from the Gard firefighters.
These thunderstorms accompanied by "enormous electrical activity" caused at least four fires of meters during the night and several fires on homes.
“In the area, it looked like fireworks,” explained the representative of the Departmental Fire and Rescue Service (SDIS) 30.
48 municipalities in a state of natural disaster
Strong thunderstorms are still present in the Gard. These storms are currently losing intensity and are gradually shifting to the east of the department and the Rhône valley, Météo-France said. If they "evacuate during the morning, these storms can still give amounts of rain of the order of 50 to 80 millimeters in a short time and locally give hail and strong gusts of wind", warns however the meteorological institute. Orange vigilance on Gard, Ardèche and Drôme should however be lifted around noon, according to Météo-France forecasts.
About ten days ago, violent thunderstorms and record rains had already affected the Gard, which had even been briefly placed on red vigilance, again for the risk of thunderstorms and flooding.
Following the “floods and mudslides” that occurred during this episode, from September 14 to 16, 2021, 48 communes of the Gard have just been recognized as a state of natural disaster, according to a press release from the prefecture of the department on Sunday.
Society
Weather: Four departments in the South-East placed in orange rain and flood vigilance
Lille
Hauts-de-France: Has the summer been that bad?
Planet
Montpellier
Languedoc-Roussillon
Weather report
Thunderstorm
Weather forecast