The weather has cooled and with it the sky has darkened.
This Wednesday, the English Channel, Calvados and Seine-Maritime were in turn placed by Météo-France on orange vigilance for thunderstorms.
This brings the number of departments concerned to eight, with the five departments of the Mediterranean arc on which a deluge fell during the night.
The departments of Hérault, Gard, Vaucluse, Bouches-du-Rhône and Var have been on orange alert since Tuesday.
Météo-France, on the other hand, had raised the alert overnight for Aude, Tarn and Aveyron.
Waterspouts, strong winds, hail: between Tuesday evening and Wednesday morning, thunderstorms swept the South-East, from Aude to Var, but no significant damage was recorded, according to the emergency services.
Rain and lightning
“The night was calm, we had no significant intervention,” said the Gard firefighters.
Same echo in Hérault and Bouches-du-Rhône in the early morning, although the rains were heavy in Montpellier and Marseille and the sky streaked with lightning.
"These storms give showers of the order of 20 to 40 mm in less than an hour" and some peaks were recorded with 75 mm of rain in Montarnaud and 97 mm in Puechabon, two towns near Montpellier, said Météo -France.
The wind also blew hard with 103 km / h in the town of Aigues-Mortes in the Camargue.
Hail and strong wind
After a lull on Wednesday morning, new storms will reform during the day in Hérault and Gard, then in Var and Bouches-du-Rhône, and Météo-France expects very intense rains, up to 80 mm in a short time, with hail and strong gusts of wind.
"Whirlwind phenomena are also possible in coastal areas," warned Météo-France.
The meteorological institute does not qualify these summer storms as a “Mediterranean” episode at this stage.
A “pretty classic” episode
“The Mediterranean episode is when we start to have stationary cells which give strong accumulations of rain (…) from thresholds of 100 mm locally”, explained Frédéric Nathan, forecaster of Météo-France, on Tuesday, qualifying the current episode of "pretty classic".
The authorities of the South-East departments in orange vigilance reminded the population to postpone any trip or, at the very least, to find out about the weather before hitting the road.
“30 cm of water is enough to carry a car,” recalled the Var prefecture in a press release.
It is also strictly inadvisable to stay close to watercourses or to take shelter under a tree.
Company
Thunderstorms: Five departments in the south of France on orange alert
Paris
Paris: After “very intense” thunderstorms, return to normal in public transport
Planet
Weather report
Meteo France
Thunderstorm
orange vigilance