Flooding: alerts in place for Morbihan and Gironde

The French department of Morbihan in Brittany is on heightened orange alert for pluie-inondation (flooding by rain) from midday today (February 5).

“A new disturbance is bringing significant rainfall to Morbihan, where the ground has been saturated for several days,” says state forecaster Météo France in a bulletin, published shortly before 10:00.

The announcement comes after 10-20 mm of rain fell overnight in the east of the department.

Rain is expected to continue in Brittany this morning and into the late afternoon, with rainfall totals estimated to reach around “15-30 mm over the next 12 hours” and exceed 40 mm in some areas by this evening.

Residents are advised against travelling and are warned not to drive along flooded roads.

Morbihan is forecast to return to a lower-level yellow warning from 18:00. 

In Nouvelle-Aquitaine, the Gironde department remains on orange alert for flooding.

“Moderate to significant flooding will be observed in the Bordeaux and Libourne areas during the next high tides,” reports flood alert platform Vigicrues.

The alert has been in place since Monday (February 2) and there is not yet any indication of when the alert will be downgraded.

Last week (January 31), Gironde experienced a violent ‘mini-tornado’ that damaged around 300 homes, ripping off roofs, collapsing walls and uprooting trees as it coursed through several neighbourhoods for around 15 minutes.