Videos: Cars and road submerged as flash floods hit south-east France
Up to 60,000 homes lose power, sports matches cancelled and flights diverted
The violent storms led to dramatic scenes
George Trumpeter/Shutterstock/MétéoExpress/X
Dramatic scenes were recorded in the south-east of France last night (September 21) as major storms battered the area.
Record rainfall and thunderstorms led to widespread flooding and severe disruption.
Power cuts were recorded across the region with up to 60,000 homes losing power at one point, and several roads and rail routes were cut including around Toulon and in the Vaucluse department.
As of this morning, around 3,300 homes in the Var department remain without electricity.
Flights to Marseille were diverted to airports as far away as Lyon as the stormy conditions made it too difficult to land.
The highly-anticipated football derby between Marseille and PSG was postponed due to the weather, as was a rugby match between Toulon and La Rochelle where the stadium was flooded.
No fatalities have been linked to the storm but firefighters carried out hundreds of interventions overnight.
Some areas saw temporary evacuations as waters reached dangerously high levels.
127mm of rain in Avignon, record rainfall in several areas
Rainfall in several areas reached over 90mm, including in Toulon (113mm), Aix (92mm), and Avignon (127mm, with 108mm of this coming in around three hours).
In Castellet (Var), 136mm was recorded during the storms, a record for the area.
In many areas, the intensity of the rain was spectacular, with more than 30mm falling in ten minutes in Sanary-sur-Mer (Var), or in Toulon, 70mm in half an hour.
In Toulon, the rainfall led to closure of the railway station at around 22:45 as well as the main tunnel leading into the city.
Residents in the Var received a warning message from authorities via the FR-Alert system about the weather conditions.
Elsewhere, several areas were flooded, including Avignon, Toulon, and villages as far west as the Gard department.
The major ‘Avenue des Olives’ in Marseille was also flooded.
Storms have now ended in the area and a dry, if cloudy, day is forecast for the region today.
