Depression Monica sweeps across France on Saturday March 9, causing heavy rain and gusts of wind. Météo France places nine departments on orange alert.
A new episode of bad weather hit France on Saturday March 9. Depression Monica will create severe weather, particularly in the southeastern regions of the country where heavy rain and gusty winds will mark the start of the weekend. Nine departments have been placed on orange vigilance, by Météo France. Haute-Loire and Loire for wind, Charente-Maritime, Gironde, Gard for floods, Lozère for rain-flood, Ardèche and Var for floods and rain-flood and the Alpes-Maritimes for rain- flooding and avalanches.
The weather forecast service warns of heavy precipitation throughout the day and overnight from Saturday to Sunday. “The accumulations could still exceed 100 mm in places in the departments of Var and Alpes-Maritimes. The Ardèche Cévennes will also be heavily rained, with also snow above 1,200 m during the day, then 800 to 1,000 m during the day. next night”, estimates the latest Météo France bulletin. Intense rain is expected in particular “in the Cévennes this Saturday afternoon as well as in the evening and following night”. The Monica depression could also cause “a change in the level of vigilance in the Lozère department”. The meteorological institute warns of a risk of “significant flooding in Argens and Nartuby” which will be affected, like the entire PACA region, by heavy rain in the afternoon.
Gusts of 90 to 110 km/h
From Saturday morning, a good part of France should be gray and rainy with light rain in the West “which shifts towards Normandy, Ile-de-France and Auvergne in the afternoon, then shifts towards the “is in the evening while losing activity, sparing only the extreme northeast.”
Depression Monica should also cause strong gusts of wind in the Loire and Haute-Loire, placed on orange alert. The south-southeast wind could prove violent “with gusts most often between 90 and 110 km/h or even locally 120 to 130 km/h, particularly on the Pilat Massif”. Météo France warns the inhabited sectors of Haute-Loire “mainly Yssingeaux-Le Puy en Velay and the sector of St-Etienne-St Chamond-Rive de Gier in the Loire” which could also witness gusts of 90 to 110 km /h.