Storm Ana on the Charente and Vendée coast, snow on the Alps and the north, rainfall and flooding risk on the Southeast: 32 departments in orange alert.
High winds, heavy rainfall, avalanches, ice or flooding waves thirty-two departments were placed in Orange alert on Monday morning, especially in the north where strong winds have knocked out power 20,000 homes and wrecked a ferry.
This weather warning issued Saturday afternoon for twelve departments has evolved over the hours, some being removed, others added, to reach a total of 36 on Monday at 4am and 6am to 32 for various reasons related to storms winter on different parts of the country.
The departments of Nord, Pas-de-Calais and the Somme were hit on Sunday by strong winds, which ranged in weakening Sunday night.
Vigilance for the Somme was even raised in the evening. But in the afternoon, part of a tribune of the stage of the Unicorn at Amiens had to be evacuated after a projector was partly stalled because of strong wind.
Some 500 spectators for the match against Lyon in Ligue 1 have had to be moved as this projector swayed dangerously above them, in this stage where the fall of a barrier had wounded 29 in September.
20,000 homes without electricity
In the departments of Nord and Pas-de-Calais, always orange alert, about 20,000 homes were private power Sunday afternoon.
And in Calais, a ferry with over 300 people on board ran aground in the port of Calais due to winds, causing no injuries but disrupting cross-Channel traffic. The ship, which was to join Dover, was towed to the dock.
Airports closed in Corsica
If the winds were to falter in the evening in the north, a snow orange alert has been added on Monday mid-morning, “potentially is expected of 5 to 10 cm on the North Pas-de-Calais, locally 15 cm on heights, “said Meteo France.
From the night of Sunday to Monday, the Pyrenean area and a wide strip of departments from the Gironde to the Drôme through the Center region were to be affected by strong winds. The alert was extended to five departments of Vendée, Eure-et-Loir, Indre-et-Loire, Loiret-Cher and Loiret .
Due to a lull in the Pyrenean terrain, warning strong winds was lifted at 6 am on the Pyrénées-Atlantiques, Hautes-Pyrenees Ariege and Haute-Garonne.
As a result of this storm named Ana, Meteo France warned against the high waves on the Atlantic seaboard and the Mediterranean basin. These waves could “break near the shore” and “cause significant flooding on low or exposed parts.”
In Vendée, where the storm will be the strongest , the gusts should approach 140 -150 km/h on the coast.
The alert “Waves-submersion” concerns the coasts of the Gironde, Landes, Hérault, Bouches-du-Rhône, Var, Alpes-Maritimes and southern Corsica.
The Corse-du-Sud is further placed vigilance orange rain-floods, especially as the flow of rainfall will be “thwarted by high sea levels and strong winds.”
The airports of Ajaccio and Figari were closed Sunday afternoon due to bad weather.
Savoie, Haute Savoie, Isère, Hautes-Alpes, the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence and Alpes-Maritimes are property them in orange avalanche awareness. “The quantities of fresh snow (…) expected by Monday evening above 2,000 meters are again one meter for the Savoie and Haute-Savoie and the Southern Alps, rather 40 to 80 cm for Isère “according to Météo-France.
