Weather: Heavy rains return to France this weekend… New floods in sight ?

Heavy rains are hitting France again, particularly in the south-east, starting this Friday or for the whole weekend. Significant accumulations equivalent to several weeks of precipitation are expected and are causing fears of flooding.

New rains and a new risk of flooding only a week after the violent storms that hit France ? Episodes from the Cévennes and the Mediterranean are expected to hit the south-east of the country again from this Friday, October 25 and until the end of the weekend. Already two departments have been placed on orange alert for rain and flooding from this Friday by Météo France: Gard and Var. And the weather agency warns that other territories could also be put on alert in the coming hours and over the weekend.

Heavy rains have already fallen in the south of the country during the night from Thursday to Friday, sometimes bringing significant accumulations equivalent to a month's rainfall in just a few hours: more than 160 mm of water was observed in Le Luc, in the Var. A situation that could still last this Friday between periods of calm according to Météo France: “Stormy showers are breaking out on the coast and inland Var and are getting stronger until Friday morning. Over the whole day, the totals thus reach 50 to 80 mm, locally 120 to 150 mm in the interior”. In the Gard, the totals that fell during the night are between 50 and 80 mm, but the rain and storm line should still bring between 100 and 150 mm in the next few hours after a lull.

The most risky day forecast for Saturday

The rainy episode that began on Thursday evening “remains fairly scattered but sometimes very intense”. Above all, “another “much more intense episode” will hit the south-east of France and Corsica from Saturday to Sunday, warns La Chaîne Météo, which adds: “Saturday, and particularly the evening, seems to be the period most at risk” with storms that will follow one another all day long.

While significant accumulations of rain are already expected by Friday evening, La Chaîne Météo expects to see between 150 and 350 mm of precipitation fall on the Cévennes between Thursday and Sunday evening. 100 to 200 mm are expected over the same period in the lower plain of the Rhone Valley and 150 to 200 mm in the Var, the Alpes-Maritimes and Corsica.

Significant flood risks

With rains that have already been significant and are expected to last all weekend, the risk of flooding is real. “The risks associated with these heavy rains are new overflows in the Cévennes, but more moderate than last week, and rather to the south of the massif. Floods are also feared under stationary storms in the lower Rhone Valley,” warns La Chaîne Météo. We must also remain attentive to the “risk of runoff and the very high risk of flooding” feared for Saturday in Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, which is the region “most threatened by these storms”.

“Fast flooding is to be feared”, particularly in the Var, where some rivers have already considerably swollen, like the Argens river which went from 1.62 meters on Thursday to 8.04 meters on Friday morning according to the levels reported by BFMTV. “The rivers could experience significant rises but more spread out over time and lower than last week”, warns in a more temperate manner La Chaîne Météo. In addition to heavy rainfall, the risk of flooding is also increased by the already waterlogged soils.