Red alerts for floods have been triggered on the Garonne, for violent winds in Aude and for avalanches in Savoie, whereas storm Nils sweeps throughout the south of France on Thursday February 12.
Faced with “stormy winds” and “significant floods”, the meteorological institute additionally positioned round thirty departments on orange alert on Thursday for this “remarkable” episode.
Météo-France recorded gusts of 162 km/h in Biscarosse, 145 km/h in Pau, 136 km/h in Mont-de-Marsan, 125 km/h in Toulouse, 124 km/h in Bordeaux, and 120 km/h in Auch throughout the evening.
A heavy items automobile driver was killed in an accident close to Dax (Landes), after a falling tree department linked to the passage of the storm.
Some 850,000 houses have been with out electrical energy Thursday morning. The most affected areas are Nouvelle-Aquitaine (485,000 houses) and Occitanie (318,000), Enedis stated in its 6 a.m. state of affairs replace.
The Vigicrues group warned of “overflows which could be very significant” on the Garonne, in a sector between Langon and Agen, at a degree “comparable to the flood of January 2022”.
In La Réole, in Gironde, municipal providers evacuated round thirty residents on Wednesday night from the quays dealing with the overflowing river, round ten of them being housed in a highschool.
“The storm is preventing the proper flow of water, so with my colleagues we remain on absolute vigilance because we do not know exactly where it will lead,” Mayor Bruno Marty (Place Publique) instructed AFP, hoping to not relive the “trauma” of the 2021 floods, the place the water top reached round 10 meters.
According to the Météo France bulletin Thursday morning, 22 departments in whole, from Finistère to Hérault by way of Corrèze, are on orange alert for the day within the face of the chance of overflows on sections of rivers.
The pink flood vigilance on Gironde and Lot-et-Garonne was prolonged to Friday, which is able to nonetheless see 22 departments maintained on orange vigilance for a similar motive.
“Critical situation”
Depression bringing important rain after an already very moist begin to 2026, storm Nils shifts on Thursday in direction of the Gulf of Lion, then Corsica.
The episode ought to finish Thursday morning within the South-West, Thursday night within the Mediterranean areas, and even throughout the evening from Thursday to Friday in Corsica, based on Météo France which launched an attraction for “caution”.
“It remains a critical situation”, underlines Sébastien Léas, forecaster for the general public physique, describing a “remarkable” episode, similar to the Goretti storm which brought on important harm to the north-west of the nation in early January.
As a precaution, faculties have been closed Thursday within the Pyrénées-Orientales and Aude division.
Météo France, which has not dominated out additionally switching the Pyrénées-Orientales to pink alert for violent winds, described the phenomenon as a “westerly storm of uncommon force and scale”.
Eleven departments in whole, from the Pyrenees to the 2 Corsican departments, are on orange alert on Thursday for the wind. Gusts reaching 130 to 150 km/h are anticipated within the Mediterranean, the place maritime site visitors between Corsica and the continent has been disrupted.
On the rails, the SNCF introduced the interruption of site visitors on sure trains on Wednesday night, notably on quite a few traces in New Aquitaine till Thursday afternoon.
“Particularly unstable” snow cowl
With the heavy rains of current weeks, the soils are waterlogged, making bushes and infrastructure extra susceptible to wind.
In the Massif Central, Cantal and Corrèze are affected by an orange rain-flood alert, whereas tens of liters of water per sq. meter fell on the Millevaches plateau.
Finally, within the Alps, Savoie was positioned on pink alert for avalanches on Thursday, with three different departments (Hautes-Alpes, Isère and Haute-Savoie) being on orange alert.
According to Météo France, 20 to 50 cm of snow fell on mountain ranges above 2,000 meters above sea degree and “certain large-scale avalanches are to be feared” because of a “particularly unstable” snow cowl.
Orange wave-submersion vigilance additionally considerations Southern Corsica on Thursday and greater than 50 different departments are on yellow vigilance in the remainder of the nation dealing with the chance of floods, storms, violent winds, floods and even avalanches.
Météo-France at the moment plans to raise the utmost alert ranges at 2 p.m. in Aude and 10 p.m. in Savoie.
With AFP
https://www.france24.com/fr/france/20260212-temp%C3%AAte-nils-en-france-un-mort-850-000-foyers-priv%C3%A9s-d-%C3%A9lectricit%C3%A9