The bad weather triggered by the passage of depression Monica continues to hit the south of the country, and more particularly the South-East. Seven people went missing this Sunday, March 10, while ten departments are placed on orange alert for the risk of flooding or wave-submersion.
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The South-East of the France takes water. After the heavy rain Triggered by the passage of depression Monica, seven people went missing this Sunday, March 10. “ We have seven missing, six in the Gard department, one in the Ardèche department », specified Gérald Darmanin to the press, speaking of rainy episodes “ extremely difficult and violent “.
In the Gard, a father and his two children were swept away by floods while trying to cross a bridge over the Gardon in Dions, north of Nîmes. The occupants of the vehicle were able to call for help after crossing the bridge, but their car was swept away and has not yet been found. Two women also disappeared after alerting the emergency services in Goudargues, as well as a 62-year-old motorist near Gagnières and the manager of a hydroelectric power station in Saint-Martin de Valamas, in Ardèche.
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Ten departments on orange vigilance
Helicopters, drones and nearly 300 firefighters and rescue personnel are mobilized to try to find the missing, whose vehicles have been located. Thirty-five rescues saved lives according to the Minister of the Interior, who went to the ministry’s crisis center.
Eight departments are still on orange flood alert on Sunday (Ardèche, Bouches-du-Rhône, Charente-Maritime, Gard, Gironde, Pyrénées-Atlantiques, Var, Yonne) and should remain so until Monday, Météo-France indicated in its 10 a.m. bulletin this Sunday. Two departments, Landes and Pyrénées-Atlantiques, are on orange wave submergence alert. Some 4,000 homes were deprived of electricity.
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