Video: dramatic mudslides hit villages in northern France

Heavy rain at the start of the week has caused mudslides across northern France, leading to roads being temporarily closed and damage to properties.

Departments including Pas-de-Calais and Somme, hit by rainfall for the past several days, faced another barrage of wet weather across the start of the week.

This included fierce downpours on Monday (May 4) evening.

“Around 45mm of rain fell in 40 minutes, that’s enormous,” said mayor of Puisieux, south of Arras (Pas-de-Calais), Jacques Bonnay, a commune impacted by mudslides to FranceInfo.

This sudden rain mixed with mud on the ground, which was already loose from previous rainfall, causing it to cascade downhill. 

“The mud accumulated at the lowest point of the village at incredible speed. It came from the fields. There are no more embankments, so it flows directly onto the road,” Mr Bonnay added. 

“The mud came rushing into the heart of the village. The runoff stagnated… for a good half hour. It was awful.”

Several roads became inaccessible, with the mayor temporarily closing a number of routes until mud could be cleared from them.

Two houses in the village were partially flooded by muddy water, but no serious injuries were recorded.

The D27, running near the commune, was already closed due to flooding after seeing floods up to 30cm deep covering parts of the road.

Seven vehicles along the route were impacted, and four people had to be rescued from a car that had been impacted by the flooding, with the mayor reporting that water in the car had reached up to the steering wheel.

“The four occupants of the same vehicle, caught off guard by the rising waters, were escorted off-road by firefighters and brought to safety,” said local firefighters in a report of the incident.

The video below shows some of the impact of the mudslide on the village.

A ‘funnel cloud’ was spotted in the sky near Puisieux by residents during the stormy period. 

These cloud formations become tornadoes if they touch the ground – several tornadoes hit France annually – however in this case no damage from the weather pattern was recorded.

Somme department also hit

Further mudslides were recorded in the Somme department, particularly around Puchevillers, around 20km north of Amiens. 

The basements of several homes in the village were flooded with mud, with at least one resident also seeing their main property also damaged. A second property in the commune lost electricity for several hours after being impacted.

Residents told local media it was the second-worst flooding in 40 years.

Firefighters needed to rehouse several locals who were impacted. In addition, they rescued a couple trapped in their car on D23 near Beauquesne.