OLIVIER CHASSIGNOLE
One meter of water and mudslides: violent storms swept through part of eastern France on the night of Saturday to Sunday, causing around ten minor injuries and flooding, particularly in Haute-Marne.
Météo France has lifted all orange “storm” alerts in force, but 31 departments in eastern France remain on yellow alert, from the Ardennes to Corsica, according to its 4 p.m. bulletin.
On the night of Sunday to Monday, “locally strong storms” are expected in Corsica. “The virulence of these storms currently requires a yellow alert level, but a worsening to the +orange+ level cannot be ruled out at this stage,” the organization said.
During the night from Saturday to Sunday, an “intense storm episode” caused “significant” flooding in Haute-Marne.
“The damage is considerable” in the municipalities of Bologne, Marault, Meures, Annéville-la-Prairie, and Sexfontaines, “due to water and mud flows”, the Haute-Marne departmental council said on Facebook.
The storm in Bologna caused “more than a metre of water to flow into the streets and then into houses in a matter of minutes”, added the county council, which released photos and videos showing the damage and a flooded road.
In this northeastern territory affected from 7:00 p.m. on Saturday, “it rained 10 times more in one hour than during a normal episode,” according to the prefecture. Eight people were slightly injured during this episode. Some were hospitalized for “hypothermia.”
In the areas of Bologna, Meures and Sexfontaines “more than 50 mm of water fell in one hour and almost 100 mm in six hours”, Météo-France detailed.
– “terrible storms” –
“Thank you to the 463 firefighters involved in nearly 600 interventions,” Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin responded on X on Sunday.
“The time has now come to repair the extensive damage caused by these terrible storms,” he added.
From Auvergne to Burgundy, the bad weather has caused damage linked to wind and precipitation.
In Puy-de-Dôme, Clermont-Ferrand and Riom were hit Saturday around 4:00 p.m. by a storm accompanied by violent winds, up to 90 km/h. Two people were very slightly injured following the fall of a tree on their camper van in Arconsat, the department’s prefecture indicated in a report Sunday midday.
A hundred firefighters were mobilized, for more than 200 interventions, mainly for drying out and securing roofs. In Riom, the 150-kilo lightning rod of the tower of the old belfry had to be removed following being damaged.
Then during the night, a major rain front caused water levels to rise in some streets in the lower part of the town of Thiers, up to 60 cm, which fell back down on Sunday morning to around 20 cm, according to the prefecture.
In the Loire, 80% of the roof of a home for the elderly was torn off in Rozier-en-Donzy, requiring the rehousing of 22 residents, firefighters said.
In the Vosges, which was placed on yellow alert, a storm was violent in the Epinal area, the department’s prefecture told AFP, and the driver of a car was “slightly injured” following a manhole cover rose and hit the vehicle.
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