In its latest bulletin, Vigicrues indicates that two departments are placed, this Saturday, March 30, on red alert for the risk of flooding. Orange vigilance has now been applied to five other departments.
A rainy Easter Sunday ahead. The heavy rains of the week led Météo France to place two departments, this Saturday, March 30, on red alert and five were kept on orange alert for the risk of major floods. Significant overflows are feared on several rivers in Dordogne, Charente, Charente maritime, Gironde, Indre-et-Loire and in Vienne.
“This precipitation occurs on soils that are already very humid and causes moderate to significant increases in levels on several rivers from New Aquitaine to the Grand Est, specifies Vigicrues in his last newsletter. As a result, moderate to very significant increases in levels on several rivers in the west and south-west of the country will continue, particularly causing exceptional and major overflows, from this Saturday evening and next night, on the Touraine Vienne (37) and the Creuse – Bec des Deux Eaux (86).”
This afternoon, a new rainy front is affecting an eastern half of the country with locally heavier rains in the Cévennes and the Provence-Alpes-Côte-d’Azur region. From tomorrow, in the western half of the country, the weather is still dry this Saturday, but showers will return on Sunday.
Disaster victims in Indre
This morning, around forty people, in Indre placed on yellow alert, were evacuated. “There is up to 1.50 m of water in the houses. It rose very quickly in 3 hours, during the night,” explained Laurent Laroche, the mayor of Bélâbre, a town crossed by the Anglin, a sub-tributary of the Loire.
According to the prefecture, “several areas were affected by overflows, leading to traffic cuts on certain roads,” it said in a press release, specifying that 150 homes were without electricity.