France has been hit by severe storms and floods. The Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in the south-east of the country is particularly affected.
Cars are exposed in Rive-de-Gier, central France, after floods submerged roads and railway tracks.
Heavy rain and floods are not uncommon in France. But what happened in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region until Friday morning was beyond the imagination of observers. Up to 600 liters of rain fell per square meter in just 48 hours – an amount almost equal to annual precipitation.
“We have never had such a disaster,” the president of the Ardèche departmental council, Olivier Amrane, told France Info.
Water up to the roof ridges
Amrane reported on places where the water level reached 2 meters 50 and reached up to the roof ridges. In a very short time, the village of Saint-Martin-d’Ardèche was literally flooded. But no one was harmed. The civil defense service was able to evacuate around 900 people in time in the south-east of the country. Television images showed flooded highways, supermarkets and cars floating in water. Some schools and nurseries in the region will remain closed until Saturday.
In south-west France, several rivers had overflowed their banks, causing damage and chaos. In Saint-Palais in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department, more than 100 liters of rain per square meter fell from the sky in a few hours. In the French Basque Country, the authorities declared the second highest warning level, orange.
The storms disrupted train traffic in parts of the country. According to the state railway company, traffic was disrupted on the Sud-Est route, which connects Paris to Marseille and Montpellier, among others. It was not clear Friday when the trains would run normally again. Rail traffic between Lyon and Saint-Étienne was also affected. Motorway operator Vinci Autoroutes has warned of possible disruptions to more than 30 French motorways.
In the village of Maclas in the Loire region, the sewage system overflowed.
Death toll in Paris
It also rained heavily in Paris. According to meteorologists, more precipitation fell in one hour than is normal in a fortnight. Several metro stations were closed due to flooding. The storms also claimed lives in the capital: a man was killed by a falling tree. According to the French Interior Ministry, 1,500 firefighters were on duty Friday night. Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau said everything would be done to help those affected.
Torrents were created after heavy rain in the town of Pélussin.
“We are dealing with an unprecedented situation on this scale,” said the Minister for Ecological Change, Agnès Pannier-Runacher. A crisis team has been established in her ministry, for which all relevant services are being implemented. “We are facing together events related to climate change that we will see more often and more regularly, we need to prepare for them,” said Pannier-Runnacher.
Evacuation of 47 people arrested from the supermarket
In Givors near Lyon, dramatic scenes occurred due to the flooding of the Rhone: on Thursday afternoon, 47 people were trapped on the top floor of the Carrefour supermarket. In a rescue operation, the fire department brought all those affected to safety that evening. In response to the incident, the supermarket chain closed additional branches in the coastal cities of Nice, Cannes and Antibes as well as the Principality of Monaco as a precautionary measure.
On Friday, the weather service Météo-France reported a slight improvement in the situation. The number of departments on alert has been reduced from 17 to 10. However, the areas of Bouches-du-Rhône, Gard, Landes and Loire are on alert due to the risk of flooding. The risk of rain and flooding continues to affect Ariège, Haute-Garonne, Gers, Tarn and Tarn-et-Garonne. The highest red warning level previously declared for the departments of Rhône, Loire, Haute-Loire and Lozère has now been raised.