Five departments of the Southeast were placed Thursday by Météo-France in orange alert due to thunderstorms and heavy rain expected during the day.
The orange warning “thunderstorm” and “rain-floods” issued at 4:05 am concerns the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, the Alpes-Maritimes, the Bouches-du-Rhône, the Var and the Vaucluse. It is valid until 4:00 p.m. Thursday.
A “strong rain-storm degradation” will extend from the lower Rhône valley to Provence then to the Côte d'Azur, notes Météo France. The operator anticipates thunderstorms in its vigilance bulletin accompanied by strong gusts of wind and occasional hail. "Problems of local flooding and runoff are therefore to be monitored," he notes.
Severe rain and hailstorms
The expected amounts of precipitation "are in the range of 50 to 80 mm, occasionally 100 to 120 mm", and "the hourly intensities can be locally in the range of 50 to 70 mm," he said. "In the south of the country, we have already noted 70 to 80 mm in less than two hours near Tarascon" (Bouches-du-Rhône), reports Météo-France.
Internet users have also published on social networks images of violent rain storms and sometimes hail that fell Wednesday evening in Paris and Ile-de-France. Videos posted on Twitter showed in particular streets of the capital, as well as the entrance to a metro station, invaded by waterspouts.
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