The Bouches-du-Rhone, Var and Vaucluse were placed on Wednesday in orange warning floods-rains, joining six departments of the South drowned during the night under water fl oods that have in particular flooded the road network of the coast. Follow-up is maintained for these six departments, Aude, Pyrénées-Orientales, Aveyron, Gard, Hérault and Tarn, as well as for Andorra, said Météo France.
The "marked rainy-stormy Mediterranean episode" that has swept them since Tuesday, with a late night peak, finally later than expected, has caused the closure of many road sections, especially on the coast, and ripped roofs and trees, according to an initial assessment of prefectures and firefighters. In the Pyrénées-Orientales, where a dozen departmental roads were cut, firefighters carried out 60 interventions for floods and roofs torn off, said the prefecture.
600 firefighters mobilized in the Aude
The department, like the Aude, also remains in orange vigilance, while the persistence of easterly winds at the end of the day maintains a risk of submersion. In the Aude, where two campsites were evacuated preventively Tuesday night, six departmental remained cut in the morning, while the port of Port-la-Nouvelle was closed. Some 600 firefighters remained mobilized in this department, especially facing flood peaks expected late in the morning, said the prefecture. In support of local forces, the Civil Security deployed Tuesday on the Mediterranean arc a device with 90 firefighters, 70 fire-rescue and three helicopters.