2023-09-17 01:40:48
The situation has stabilized. The precipitation was particularly heavy in Hérault from Friday night to Saturday. At 2:40 p.m., Météo France decided to place this department on red alert (level 4 of 4) due to rain and flooding. The organization mentioned an “exceptional episode of intense rain in the Hauts cantons of Hérault”, before returning the department to orange, then yellow, at the end of the day.
The orange vigilance triggered on Friday had already expanded in the morning. Three departments had been placed on alert. Gard, Lozère and Hérault were affected by an orange vigilance (level 3 out of 4) for rain and flooding, while storms had begun to fall on the region during the night, marking the first Mediterranean episode of the season. The three departments were returned to yellow this Saturday evening.
“The stormy rains of the night, temporarily very sustained, stretch in the morning from the Mediterranean basin to the Alps, as well as in Corsica”, detailed the meteorological institute, specifying that “the accumulations were expected to be significant in the Cévennes and around the lower Rhône valley. In Roqueredonde, in Hérault, the cumulative precipitation exceeded, at the beginning of the afternoon this Saturday, 500 liters per square meter. But this town is located at altitude. In the plains, the accumulations are less significant, but the evolution will depend on the way in which the water flows.
These stormy rains which affected “Hérault, Gard and the south-east of Lozère” gave “up to 80-100 mm in a short time” with cumulative precipitation over 24 hours which could “reach from 300 to 400 mm, very occasionally 600 mm in the Hauts Cantons de l’Hérault (in the north of the department, editor’s note), where more than 450 mm has already fallen,” adds Météo France. The institute also warned that “cumulations reaching 100 mm are possible in the foothills (Cévennes) or even in the plain” and that “strong gusts of wind under thunderstorms are also possible”, before conditions improve in end of the day.
Météo France highlights the intensity of precipitation with a statistic. This “represents the equivalent of approximately one month of precipitation on average” in the departments on alert. The meteorological organization explains that the Mediterranean episodes occur on average three to six times per year. These are very violent storms which can bring the equivalent of several months of rain in a few hours or days.
The rivers of Orb and Lergue “are in flood and roads are flooded”, indicated in a press release the Hérault firefighters, inviting the inhabitants of the sectors “of Lodevois, le Bousquet d ‘Orb, Bédarieux” to “observe the greatest caution” and “avoid moving”.
Several cars taken away
These bad weather caused flooding this Saturday morning, particularly in the department of Hérault. France blue specifies that at Lunas, the Orb overflowed. The flood swept away “several cars” and flooded “several houses in a hamlet located on the edge of the river”, without causing any casualties, the mayor of Lunas, Aurélien Manenc, who is also a sapper, testified to AFP. -firefighter.
⛈ Sometimes 200 to 250 mm of rain fell in the Hérault Cévennes! In Lunas, the hamlet of Taillevent was flooded this Saturday morning. (© Olivier Goudard) pic.twitter.com/cx78FlpWZa
— Météo Express (@MeteoExpress) September 16, 2023
⛈ More than 350 mm of rain fell locally in the Hérault Cévennes last night and early this morning! The Orb overflowed at Lunas, notably at the hamlet of Taillevent. (© SDIS34) pic.twitter.com/BBaFagzk5K
— Météo Express (@MeteoExpress) September 16, 2023
In the same area, a road was closed due to a landslide. In Joncels, the mayor asked the firefighters to carry out reconnaissance.
Later in the morning, the flood spread to Bédarieux. Several vehicles parked in the lower areas ended up in the water.
Thirty-nine departments were also placed on yellow alert (level 2 out of 4) for storms or rain and floods by Météo France during the day on Saturday. They are located in the entire northeast quarter of the country, in the northwest of France, in the south; Landes and Gironde are also affected. There were only 25 left on Saturday evening, according to a bulletin published in the evening.
“Very sudden and dangerous floods”
“These episodes of rain are the consequences of the upwelling of warm and humid air from the Mediterranean which occurs critically from mid-September to mid-December, a period during which the sea is warmer which favors evaporation,” Christophe Mirmand, prefect of the Provence-Alpes-Côte-d’Azur (Paca) region, declared Friday during a press conference. He stressed that “the resulting floods can be very sudden and very dangerous.”
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