violent storms hit the Loire and the northwest, Marseille and the south under water
A hailstorm hit Saint-Étienne and numerous floods were observed in Gard and Hérault. Torrents of water are breaking over Marseille this Wednesday evening.
Storms raged in several departments on Wednesday August 17, the day after the deluge that hit the Paris region, causing flooding in the metro. Le Figaro provides an update on precipitation, based on data from the Weather Channel*.
Hail causes damage in the Loire
Fr Auvergne-Rhône-Alpesthe equivalent of three weeks of precipitation fell on Wednesday afternoon in some cities of the region, indicates the Weather Channel, as in Mornant in the Rhône, where 50.2 mm of rain were observed. The violent gusts of wind were measured, including one estimated at 131 km / h in Saint-Chamond, in the Loire.
“I never seen that in my life», «it’s the flood“, a “hurricane“, Internet users reacted on Wednesday by commenting on dozens of photos and videos which abound on social networks after the episodes in the Loire. In the images, we can see heavy rains on the roads and trash cans carried away in their path, trees knocked down on the road by gusts of wind or even a blanket of hail covering gardens. The passage of hail, following several days of heat wave, significantly reduced visibility, as evidenced by the images broadcast.
A little further, in Lyon, no hail but a brutal storm having improved flooding in the street. In Saint-Priest-en-Jarez, north of Saint-Étienne, the reception of a building in the North hospital center was flooded. Firefighters were mobilized, according to Progress . The south of Lyon suffered flooding, especially in the municipalities of Feyzin where the chemical valley is located, and Saint-Germain Laval. “It’s amazing what’s going on“, caption a user on Twitter on a video showing brown water rushing down the streets.
The south of France under water
the Gard and theHerault experienced intense storms this Wednesday afternoon. The stormy wave which started at the beginning of the afternoon persisted on the reliefs as well as at sea before touching the Var and the Bouches-du-Rhône. Still according to the Weather Channel, the equivalent of three weeks of rain fell locally in two hours, and even a month of precipitation in Saint-Sauveur-Camprieu (Gard).
The Hérault was hit a second time in the evening. The stormy line shifted towards Nîmes then Arles, further east, but without causing significant disturbances. Around 9:30 p.m., the Gard firefighters assured AFP that the storm was “pastand that no significant damage had been reported. The Vaucluse firefighters, for their part, received many calls from the Cavaillon sector in the evening, “for falling trees and water infiltration in houses“. The flood also affected the Languedocaccording to several videos posted on Twitter.
The thunderstorms caused damage in the north of the Gers (south-west), where crops, already damaged by heavy hail in June, were again damaged overnight from Tuesday to Wednesday. “I feel angry, frustrated, because we are 15 days away from harvest“, laments Philippe Larrey, farmer in Montreal-du-Gers. “On plots of vines, I lost 100% of the harvest. We won’t harvest them, and the wood is so bruised that the next harvest is already compromised.“, he continues. Gers firefighters had to intervene more than 150 times, in particular to secure a house on which a tree had fallen, while four patients from a retirement home in Condom had to be evacuated, the building having been damaged.
In the Bouches du Rhone, in Marseille, the inhabitants noticed waterspouts this Wednesday evening. Lightning streaked the sky and rain fell steadily around 9:30 p.m., as well as in other parts of the department, “but no particular or notable interventions“, indicated the firefighters to AFP. The mayor of Marseille, Benoît Payan, warned on Twitter that “the storm is very violent» and invited its constituents to be «very cautious“. Images published by Internet users show torrents of water hitting the Marseille city. Flooding was reported around the port.
Beginning of calm in the northwest
the Pas de Calais and the Normandy were also affected. Several departments in the north of France were also represented in “significant riskby the Weather Channel. The first showers flooded certain streets in the town of Berck-sur-Mer (Pas-de-Calais), after having caused the saturation of the water drainage tunnels.
After heavy rains which settled down at the end of the afternoon, around forty houses were flooded, in particular in the municipalities of Montreuil-sur-Mer and Boulogne-sur-Mer in Pas-de-Calais. A supermarket was evacuated in La Gorgue (North). There were no injuries or exceptional damage, according to firefighters. The episode should see a lull this Wednesday evening.
*The Weather Channel is a property of the Figaro group.
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