Violent thunderstorms in Switzerland and France, a victim in Rouen – rts.ch
Severe thunderstorms fell in the night from Saturday to Sunday in certain regions of Switzerland. In France, bad weather caused one victim and 15 serious injuries. In addition, 15,000 people are still without electricity.
In Switzerland, violent thunderstorms hit the cantons of Fribourg, Bern, Aargau and Lucerne in particular. They were accompanied in places by hail, said SRF Meteo on Twitter.
In the canton of Lucerne, the Egolzwil measuring station recorded 17 millimeters of rain in just 10 minutes as well as gusts of wind of 133 km/h.
MeteoSwiss had issued a red alert notice for the regions from the canton of Neuchâtel to Aargau. The storm cell was moving early Sunday morning towards northeastern Switzerland.
No calls or interventions
Sunday morning, electrical activity was intense north of the Alps. SRF Meteo recorded more than 5,000 lightning strikes throughout Switzerland, with a high concentration in the canton of Bern. The Bernese cantonal police, however, indicated that there were no specific interventions or telephone calls.
More thunderstorms were expected to follow during the day, especially in the east and south of the country, MeteoNews warned in a statement.
Blessed graves in France
In France, the intense stormy episode which crossed 65 departments still deprived 15,000 people of electricity on Sunday and left one dead and “15 injured, including two seriously”, announced Gérald Darmanin.
The deceased is a woman “carried away by a mudslide” in Rouen and drowned after being trapped under a car. Among the two seriously injured is a 13-year-old girl who is “in critical condition”, detailed the Minister of the Interior, during a press briefing on Place Beauvau.
In Yonne, near Avallon, gusts of wind exceeded 100 km / h and more than 30 mm of water fell in 12 minutes in Dornes, in the south of Nièvre, according to Météo-France. The electrical activity was very intense, totaling around 50,000 lightning strikes in 24 hours, reports Météo-France.
Orange vigilance lifted
In the Landes and Gers, hailstones of several centimeters fell on part of the Armagnac vineyard, local winegrowers and officials told AFP.
Météo-France raised the orange vigilance “Storms” on Sunday morning for the 25 departments which remained concerned, mainly located in the north-eastern quarter of France.
asch with agencies