Part of the country continues to suffer the effects of the Kirk depression, which has been crossing the Ile-de-France since Wednesday towards the northeast, and the Seine and Marne are on red alert for flooding. According to the Météo-France bulletin published on Thursday, October 10 at 6 a.m., “The severe weather associated with the Kirk Depression is gradually weakening and evacuating.”
In addition, flooding in the west and strong gales in the south of the country disrupted rail traffic in New Aquitaine and Loire-Atlantique. A sailor died off the coast of Sète and another is in absolute emergency due to the strong waves that shook the Hérault and capsized three boats, the department’s prefecture announced.
Seine-et-Marne is on red alert due to flood risk “from strong to exceptional” on the Grand Morin River, a subtributary of the Seine. “Rapid increases and localized overflows could already be observed on Wednesday afternoon”added, for its part, the specialized government site Vigicrues.
“In the Marne, in the Ile-de-France, notable and important flood levels could be reached in the coming days. In many tributaries in the Ile-de-France region or near Ile-de-France, depending on the rainfall actually observed, significant flooding or even significant and abundant runoff could occur.continues the same source.
School transportation is suspended on Thursday in the department, according to a decree adopted on Wednesday by the prefecture. “Special school circuits, transportation circuits for students with disabilities and regular line services, mainly for access to educational establishments, are prohibited for October 10 throughout the department.”specifies the decree. The prefect of the department also, in another press release, “We recommend that populations postpone [leurs] travel “. Companies and administrations too “invited to facilitate the implementation of teleworking for their employees, but also to limit or postpone trips and deliveries”he added.
The government calls for “caution”
In addition to Seine and Marne, six departments remain on orange alert for flooding according to the morning bulletin of Météo-France (Orne, Eure et Loire, Sarthe, Vendée, Deux-Sèvres and Meurthe-et-Moselle). However, in all the affected departments the orange alert for flooding, as well as for winds, has been lifted.
The government mobilized “all state services” in order to “reduce risks” linked to Kirk’s depression, the Minister of Ecological Transition and Energy, Agnès Pannier-Runacher, announced on Wednesday “Everyone be careful”. She mentioned at this stage “specific alterations, some power outages.” “It is serious, it can happen quickly, we know how to deal with it, but it is important to be careful”he stressed. “These episodes will be repeated. “We are in a moment where climate change is concretely reflected in our daily lives”he stressed to the press.
According to Transport Minister François Durovray, difficulties persisted at the end of the day on Wednesday. “limited”citing in particular “some planes diverted”. For the railway, he mentioned the possibility “of fallen trees” on the slopes or “the slope collapses” and arrangements made “so that before the opening of the service” THURSDAY “All controls are carried out and the safety of users is obviously guaranteed.”
67,000 homes without electricity
More than 67,000 customers were without power on Wednesday night, mainly in the southwest, Enedis announced.
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In Noirmoutier-en-l’Ile, in Vendée, the hospital center was affected by a flood that did not require evacuation at the moment, according to the Vendée prefecture. Many roads have been and sometimes still are flooded in many sectors of the department. Firefighters have carried out 134 interventions since the start of the storm and have received more than 536 calls.
The heavy rains also caused flooding of the A11 motorway towards Paris in the town of Chartres (Eure et Loir), which caused the closure of this lane, said Bison Futé.
In the Pays de la Loire, “Heavy rains caused flooding on the roads” between Saint-Nazaire and Le Croisic, Nantes and Pornic, as well as between Nantes and Saint-Gilles, interrupting rail traffic at some points.
In Loire-Atlantique, twenty-two roads were totally or partially closed, according to the departmental council.
SNCF traffic disruptions
As a precautionary measure, the SNCF had scheduled on Wednesday a total interruption of traffic on several lines, in particular between Dax (Landes) and Tarbes (Hautes-Pyrénées), Bayonne and Hendaye (Pyrénées-Atlantiques) or even Saintes and Royan (Charente-Maritime). . ).
In New Aquitaine, a strong gust of wind was felt, especially in the western peaks of the Pyrenees: according to Météo-France, gusts of 211 km/h were recorded overnight in the area of the Iraty ski resort, in the Pyrenees-Atlantiques. 120 km/h were recorded at the point of Socoa, in Ciboure, and 109 km/h at Cap Ferret.
“These winds in Iraty are not common”explains to Agence France-Presse Christophe Dedieu, president of the Météo Pyrénées association, that he hopes “some chaos very locally in very exposed areas » of the Pyrenean foothills. Until 3:00 p.m., the prefecture of Pyrénées-Atlantiques reported 7,500 homes without electricity and fallen trees in several municipalities of the department.
A month of rain is expected to fall in one day on an axis that runs from Vendée to Champagne-Ardenne, south of Picardy via the Paris region.
Passing through the Iberian Peninsula, Kirk caused damage in Portugal, with 400 trees uprooted in the region of Porto, the large city in the north of the country. Three hundred thousand people were left without electricity.
Storm Kirk continues the very wet trend of the year across most of mainland France. At the end of the month of September, the wettest in twenty-five years, the average annual rainfall has already been exceeded in almost the entire country: in Nice, Saint-Nazaire, Strasbourg or even Le Mans or Paris.
September was also marked on a global scale by “extreme rainfall”aggravated by the abnormally high temperatures that have been recorded on the planet for more than a year, a consequence of climate change, according to the European Copernicus Observatory.
