2023-11-18 12:56:34
In Hames-Boucres, in Pas-de-Calais, November 15, 2023. The department has been affected by flooding for two weeks. CHARLES CABY / AFP
“Over the last four weeks, across France, such quantities of rain have never been measured. » According to Météo-France, mainland France recorded an average accumulation of 237.3 millimeters between October 18 and November 16.
“This is the first time that France has recorded such an accumulation over thirty consecutive days, all seasons combined”assures the meteorological institute, according to which the previous record over thirty days had been 187.1 millimeters between January 13 and February 11, 1988, the last year to have known a series of more than thirty days (thirty-two days, from January 12 to February 12).
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This extraordinary precipitation, caused by a succession of almost continuous rainy spells, can be explained by a “rail of depressions” which has dominated the near Atlantic for a month. This is’“an upper altitude atmospheric current always present in the Northern Hemisphere and blowing from west to east”, directed towards France and acting as“highway for disruption”which can circulate freely.
Devastating floods
Pas-de-Calais was the most affected by this precipitation and experienced two weeks of devastating flooding. Between October 16 and November 14, the department recorded a cumulative rainfall of 295 millimeters, making it the wettest thirty-day episode in the department since measurements by Météo-France began in 1958.
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A few rare regions, protected by the reliefs, were however less affected than others, underlines the institute, in particular the Mediterranean rim or the north-east of Corsica, areas little affected by the rains of the last three weeks.
Although they constitute natural phenomena, floods, cyclones and droughts can be amplified by global warming generated by human activities.
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