Storm and flood alert across south

RESIDENTS, drivers and holidaymakers in 12 departments in the south of France have been warned of violent storms until late this evening with winds up to 100kph and up to 12cm of rain.

Stretching in a band from Aveyron, Hérault, Lozère, Gard, Aude and Tarn across to Ardèche, Bouches-du-Rhône, Drôme, Alpes de Haute-Provence, Var and Vaucluse, the 12 departments could get the equivalent of a month’s rain in a couple of hours and there is a strong risk of flooding and flash floods on watercourses.

However, departments up the entire eastern half of France have been warned they could also be affected as the storm front moves north.

Thunderstorms this week have already caused several deaths, with four people killed and others still missing after a rockslide on the GR20 high-level path in Corsica and a young Dutch woman killed after being swept away by a flood in the Gorges de Galamus, Pyrénées-Orientales.

Yesterday the storms hit electricity supplies in Dordogne with 1,500 households left with no power in the Bergerac area. In Lot-et-Garonne a train was hit by lightning on the line between Bordeaux and Toulouse and could not be restarted, causing hours of delays for the passengers and those on following trains.

Brittany was also hit by the storms, with flooding in St Malo and Dinan. In Normandy, a church in Bottereaux, near Rugles, Eure, was hit by lightning and left near to collapse.