Storms: four departments in the center-east placed in orange vigilance

Europe 1 with AFP 11:14 a.m., July 4, 2022

Météo-France placed the Haute-Loire, the Loire, the Rhône and the Ardèche on Monday in orange "storm" vigilance, predicting in the afternoon hail and strong gusts of wind likely to cause damage.

This vigilance, scheduled from 2 p.m. to 8 p.m., has been put in place in view of the development of thunderstorms in the south-east of the Massif Central, between Haute-Loire and Ardèche, which should then multiply by reaching the south of the department of Loire and the northern Rhone Valley.

For the Rhône department, the strongest storms will rather concern the south-east of the Lyon area, specifies Météo-France.

30 millimeters of rain expected in a few hours

Some storms will take on a violent character, in particular due to medium-sized hailstorms and will be accompanied by gusts of wind of around 80 km/h.

On the other hand, the intensities of precipitation are expected to be more moderate than the previous episodes but, with the successive passages of storm cells, the accumulations can end up being locally significant, of the order of 30mm in a few hours.

At the end of the episode, some storms may reach northern Isère and northern Drôme losing intensity, but potentially still relatively virulent, adds the weather agency.

Haute-Loire already affected by storms

Sunday evening, Haute-Loire had already been affected locally by hailstorms, mainly in two towns in the east of the department, Saint-Julien-Chapteuil and Lantriac, where damage was recorded on 450 homes and a thousand vehicles, depending on the prefecture.