One Dead, Streets Flooded, 50,000 Homes without Power… the Damage from Violent Storms Sunday and Monday.

Sunday 21st September 2025, torrential rains fell in the south-east of the country, but also in Brittany, linked to stationary storms.

A mediterranean episode crossed the south-east of France on Sunday September 21, 2025 with downpours which disrupted transport, caused power outages and led to the postponement of sporting events including the OM-PSG poster.

A death is to be deplored. A woman of around fifty is died in Guingamp (Côtes-d’Armor), trapped in her car during the floods.

Orange alert for heavy rain, floods and thunderstorms were lifted shortly after midnight in Bouches-du-Rhône, Drôme, Isère and Vaucluse, according to the latest Météo-France bulletin. She is on the other hand maintained in Côtes-d’Armor, for heavy rain and floods.

At Marseille-Provence airport, located in Marignane (Bouches-du-Rhône), around ten flights were disrupted between 5:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m., a spokesperson for the fourth French airport explained to AFP forcing diversions towards Montpellier, Nice or even Lyon.

Nurseries and schools closed in Rognac

Rognac, a town neighboring the airport, announced to its citizens on Facebook that all schools as well as a nursery located on its territory will remain closed on Monday following flooding.

In total in Bouches-du-Rhône, firefighters intervened 250 times “for reconnaissance, assistance and pumping missions”, in particular in Arles, Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, Châteaurenard, Salon-de -Provence, Istres, Miramas, Vitrolles, Rognac, Martigues, and Aix-en-Provence.

At this stage, no casualties have been reported in connection with this bad weather.
Firefighters

⛈️ Pluies orageuses: les transports en trains et avions sont perturbés depuis la fin de journée dans le sud-est de la France, notamment dans le Vaucluse et les Bouches-du-Rhône, touchés par d’importantes intempéries qui ont contraint les autorités à reporter la rencontre OM-PSG… pic.twitter.com/sST5x0dAYH
— Agence France-Presse (@afpfr) September 21, 2025

OM-PSG postponed

In Marseille, heavy stormy rains fell late in the afternoon and the neighborhood found itself underwater. The situation calmed down in the evening, at the moment where the Ligue 1 match between Olympique de Marseille and PSG should have taken place.

But the prefecture preferred in the afternoon to play the precautionary card by postponing the meeting, which will finally be played on Monday at 8:00 p.m.

In Vaucluse, TER traffic was severely disrupted, with the SNCF planning “a gradual resumption of traffic around 11:00 p.m”.

Some 10,000 homes were deprived of electricity for a time in Vaucluse and Bouches-du-Rhône in the middle of the afternoon, a figure sharply “down” in the evening, according to Enedis.

🚨 #Inondations à #Marseille !
Avenue des Olives (13013) difficilement praticable, la route s’est changée en torrent.
⚠️ Soyez prudents si vous devez circuler ce soir.#Météo #VigilanceOrange pic.twitter.com/cYpEhm0SSF
— Yonni (@Y0nniiiii) September 21, 2025

Up to 127 mm of rain

Météo-France noted up to 127 mm of water fell in Avignon including 108 mm in three hours, 92 mm in Aix-en-Provence the majority of which in less than an hour and already 94 mm in one hour in Toulon where the episode moved in the evening.

So much so that the Toulon-La Rochelle Top 14 rugby match also had to be postponed to a later date but this time at the last minute and in front of totally soaked spectators, with an impassable pitch.

Var is one of the last departments expected to be affected. At 11:00 p.m., firefighters had carried out 165 interventions there, “mainly safety, including two rescues in Tourves for people stuck in their vehicles”.

Up to 50,000 homes were deprived of electricity but the authorities only counted 15,000 at the end of the evening, in La Seyne-sur-Mer, Six-Fours and Saint-Mandrier.

Roads closed

As a safety measure, the motorway tunnel under Toulon was closed, as was the Toulon station. Finally, access to the emergency room of the Toulon Sainte-Musse hospital center is interrupted due to the state of the road.

At the other end of the country, Côtes-d’Armor is kept on orange alert until Monday 10:00 a.m. The expected accumulations in the Breton department are equivalent to more than a month of precipitation, according to Météo-France.

The inhabitants of a district of Paimpol, sector where more than 90 mm of rain is possible, were also invited to evacuate the sector. “The town’s village hall was opened to welcome residents”, the prefecture said in a press release.