2023-11-16 00:25:00
During a situation update this Wednesday, at 10 p.m., Météo France lifted the orange vigilance for Savoie, Isère and Drôme. Red vigilance (level 4 out of 4) for floods ended this Wednesday morning in Haute-Savoie. It had been lifted during the night in the Pas-de-Calais department by Meteo France.
In total, four departments are still affected by orange vigilance (level 3 out of 4) due to flooding: Pas-de-Calais, Nord, Charente-Maritime and Vendée. The Rhône, Doubs, Ain, and Jura are only on yellow alert (level 2 out of 4).
“All sections of the Median Arve, Arve Aval and Giffre Aval are in a confirmed recession phase. These sectors are always subject to particular vigilance, and may be subject to road closures leading to diversions,” the Haute-Savoie prefecture said in a press release.
Earlier, the flood of the Avre had been described as “exceptional”. It was she who overflowed in the strongest way. The flood then spread downstream. Météo Suisse thus explains that the flow is the highest ever recorded since the beginning of records in Geneva.
The Haute-Savoie prefecture also states that “according to a consolidated report, only two minor injuries were reported, including a firefighter on intervention, who were treated in hospital”.
Vigicrues, the organization responsible for monitoring watercourses, explains that a total of 13 watercourses in the country are affected by orange level vigilance. There were 18 of them at the start of the day.
These images taken Tuesday evening in Sallanches (Haute-Savoie) demonstrate the importance of the phenomenon.
According to Vigicrues, the rains forecast for Wednesday afternoon in the Alps will not worsen the situation. But “on all rivers placed on orange alert, levels will remain high”. Although only on orange alert, Isère is experiencing a flood described as “significant”. The docks are flooded in Grenoble.
The Haute-Savoie prefecture explains that evacuations have taken place. She recommends avoiding traveling and teleworking for those who can. Firefighters intervened 130 times and took care of 110 people. France blue says roads are closed due to landslides and mudslides. Pumping operations took place at Sallanches hospital. In Annemasse, roads were also closed overnight, reports The Dauphine.
“Thousands of hectares” cannot be harvested
In Pas-de-Calais, the decline has begun in the Liane basin, which was in red until the night of Tuesday to Wednesday. “Upstream, levels higher than the phenomena of last week were reached”, particularly in the Wirwignes sector, when the overflows had already been remarkable.
The prefecture reminds that most schools are closed on Wednesdays anyway; certain secondary schools may remain inaccessible, in particular for students receiving school bus services. 193 interventions took place, 21 people were evacuated, 7,200 were subject to water use restrictions. 260 homes are without power.
VIDEO. “I have more than 2 m of water in my garden”: destitute residents facing endless flooding in Pas-de-Calais
The Minister of Agriculture, Marc Fesneau, declares that there are “thousands of hectares”, particularly of beets, which cannot be harvested in the region. “There is what we are going to see immediately and what we are going to see in the medium term,” he said on franceinfo. He explains, for example, that an animal that stays several days with part of its body in water can develop “diseases” that will only be noticed in a short time. “A hundred” farms have flooded buildings. An aid fund of 80 million euros will be set up, valid not only in the Hauts-de-France region, but also in Brittany and Normandy.
New depression in the north of the country
The forecasts are also not very good in the north of France for the next few hours. A new fairly rainy depression will arrive during the night from Wednesday to Thursday. Up to 50 mm are expected in a few hours in the departments of Nord and Pas-de-Calais, or up to 50 liters per square meter. They will fall on soils already saturated with water.
In addition, this depression will be accompanied by strong gusts of wind in the northwest of the country. They will reach up to 110 km/h on the coasts and up to 90 km/h inland. An axis going from Brittany to the Grand Est region and therefore passing through Île-de-France is concerned. Météo France is currently forecasting a yellow alert (level 2 out of 4) in these regions due to these gusts.
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