Three departments in Brittany have been issued with a warning over heavy rain turning to ice by national weather forecaster Météo France today (December 19).
Finistère, Morbihan and Côtes d’Armor are under a yellow alert for heavy rain and potential flooding.
Finistère and Morbihan are also on a yellow warning for high river levels while Finistère and Côtes d’Armor are under a yellow alert for strong winds, along with Pyrénées-Atlantiques, Tarn, Aveyron, Cantal, Puy-de-Dôme, Haute-Loire, Loire, Saône-et-Loire, Ain, Rhône, Isère and Jura.
Finistère’s gendarmerie has warned local drivers of the risk of aquaplaning, and of trees falling across the road. Gendarmes have already attended several accidents and incidents involving branches and trees blocking routes.
Up to 48.2mm of rain fell in Brest and 42.6mm in Quimper yesterday (December 18).
In Ille-et-Vilaine, firefighters attended 70 incidents relating to black ice yesterday, with 52 people needing to be hospitalised. However, the situation is improving in the department today.
Gendarmes in Marne and Ardennes are also urging caution on the roads because of black ice. The same applies in Hauts-de-France, where ice has caused around 30 accidents on the A16 between Amiens and Abbeville, and around 50 in Somme. At least 14 people were hurt.
Warmer temperatures for a new week
The weather has become markedly warmer today with some towns having seen a temperature increase of over 15C in 24 hours.
In Clermont-Ferrand, temperatures increased by 17C between 04:00 yesterday and today, while in Vichy they rose by 16C and 15C in Tours, Nancy, Pontoise and Lons-le-Saunier.
It will get up to 10C in Paris, 12C in Nantes and Rennes, 13C in Brest, 16C in Perpignan, 15C in Ajaccio, Toulouse and Marseille this afternoon.
Although temperatures are on the rise, the rain will spread from west to east tomorrow (December 20). The sun will return on Wednesday (December 21), with temperatures of 5C to 15C predicted across the country.
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