Rain and Floods: Seven Departments in the South-East on Orange Alert

WEATHER ALERT: Ardèche, Bouches-du-Rhône, Haute-Corse, Gard, Hérault, Var and Vaucluse are affected by rain, flood or flood alerts and placed on Orange Alert

This Tuesday, seven departments in the South-East of France, from the hérault at the Corsica, are maintained in orange alert due to bad weather and significant floods caused by a Mediterranean episode, indicates Météo-france.

This alert level concerns Ardèche (rain-flood), Bouches-du-Rhône (rain-flood and storms), Haute-Corse (rain-flood), Gard (floods), Hérault (floods), Var (rain-flood and storms) and Vaucluse (rain-flood). Vigilance has, however, been lifted in Lozère.

Flood and overflows

A significant flood is particularly underway in Gard on the Vistre and the Vidourle, two rivers kept on orange alert. The Gard firefighters carried out 41 “safetings” of people during the night and mobilized nearly 100 personnel. On the social network X Tuesday morning, the mayor of Montpellier called on people coming from Gard not to take the road without first informing themselves.

The first overflows were also recorded during the night from Monday to Tuesday in Hérault, Lozère and Aveyron, according to Vigicrues, which reports localized overflows on watercourses on yellow alert.

According to the latest Météo-France bulletin, cumulative rainfall over the last 12 hours reached 60 to 90 mm in the south-east of Lozère and 60 to 80 mm in the interior of Hérault. The organization predicts that rainy rises, sometimes stormy, will continue for a few more hours in Gard and l’Ardèche, with intensities of up to 30 mm per hour.

The A9 motorway is cut off towards Spain and towards Lyon between Nîmes and Gallargues/Aigues-Mortes due to submerged roads, according to a press release from Vinci Autoroutes. Parts of the A7 and A8 around Marseille are partially flooded and ramps have been closed.

For Bouches-du-Rhône, Vaucluse and Var, accumulations of 50 to 80 mm are expected under showers, and locally up to 150 mm in the space of a few hours. In Corsica, these rains will last until the end of the afternoon and potentially virulent storms are expected to sweep the island from west to east.

Crisis unit activated in Gard and Hérault

From Tuesday at midnight, only crude vigilance will remain in force. A crisis unit was activated on Monday in the prefectures of Gard and Hérault. In Nîmes, the town hall announced that it had closed nurseries and leisure centers until 12 p.m. Tuesday. In Montpellier, “the local risk of flooding being very significant at the end of the day and tonight”, according to the town hall, facilities open to the public will be closed from 3 p.m. Two gymnasiums have been opened to accommodate the most vulnerable people.

This Mediterranean episode is linked to a cold drop called “Adam” in Spain, a country affected by torrential rains and floods which left at least four dead.