Eastern France on heavy rain and flooding alert

All alerts for thunderstorms have now been lifted.

Heavy rain up to 100mm is expected throughout the morning, and is forecast to continue until at least mid-afternoon, causing potential mudslides.

Most places will see 30-60mm of rainfall but others could exceed 80mm, rising to 100mm in the south of the Jura, the Rhône Valley, and near the foothills of the Alps.

In a statement, Météo France said: “On very dry earth, this rain will easily run off, and could cause mudslides and landslides. We will have to wait until the middle of the afternoon for this to stop completely.”

The departments on orange alert are:

Doubs, Jura, Haute-Savoie, Savoie, Ain, Isère, and Drôme.

The departments on yellow alert are:

Rhône, Ardèche, Vaucluse, Alpes-Maritimes, Haute-Corse, and Corse-du-Sud.

Holiday traffic alert

The weather warning comes as this weekend marks a major “cross over” of holidaymakers on the roads, with major routes from north to south expected to be particularly busy.

The A6 and A7 have already reported queues, with traffic jams expected to peak in the afternoon.

Almost 1.5 million passengers are expected on the roads this weekend, as people either return from their July holidays, or begin their August breaks.