Thunderstorms and floods: orange vigilance in four departments of the south-east

Europe1 .fr 12:10 pm, September 25, 2021

The Gard, Hérault, Drôme and Ardèche, were placed on Saturday in orange vigilance by Météo-France for thunderstorms and floods, an "intense" rainy-storm episode being expected between 22:00 and until Sunday noon, according to Meteo France.

"From the first part of the night, the situation will become more and more stormy from Languedoc to the Rhone valley", anticipates Météo-France, but "it is especially on the second part of the night that the most violent thunderstorms will be observed ", with accumulations of precipitation reaching from 70 to 100 mm" in less than 3 hours "in the departments concerned.

4 deposits in #vigilanceOrange

Stay informed on https://t.co/rJ24zzmmy4pic.twitter.com/6n30skRMwk

- VigiMeteoFrance (@VigiMeteoFrance) September 25, 2021

Risks of "significant damage"

These storms in these four departments of the south-east could "cause locally significant damage" and "lives and property can be locally endangered", warns Météo-France in its latest bulletin, warning that "heavy rainfall is likely to affect human activities "," some disturbances "being able in particular to affect rail transport.

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Friday, the Prefect of Hérault had for his part warned on Twitter that swimming would be "very dangerous" on Saturday on the coast, due to a strong swell expected.

The same alert was launched on Saturday by the prefects of Aude and Pyrénées-Orientales, still on Twitter.

About ten days ago, violent thunderstorms and record rains had affected the Gard department, which had even been briefly placed on red vigilance, again for risk of thunderstorms and flooding.

On that day, nine people were killed, victims of the swell, while wanting to swim despite the waves, two in the Aude, five in the Hérault and two in the Bouches-du-Rhône.