Var joins three French departments on orange alert for rain and floods

Var has this morning (October 30) been placed on orange alert for heavy rain and possible flooding. It joins Gard, Lozère and Ardèche, which were placed on Météo-France’s orange alert yesterday.

The weather service has highlighted the intensity and duration of the rains forecast to fall on the four departments as a particular concern.

The alert for the departments will remain in place until at least tomorrow morning (October 31).

Météo-France states that for Var, showers will strengthen in the morning and become heavy and stormy during the day. This will last until some time during the night between Saturday and Sunday. It predicts that there could be between 120 to 150mm of rainfall between Saturday and Sunday morning.

For the three other orange-alert departments, rainfall of around 20 to 30mm per hour is expected to fall over the course of Saturday morning. This is expected to subside by mid-afternoon today.

The rain is expected to continue on Sunday and Monday in these three departments, but it will be lighter.

Do I need to do anything if in these areas?

In the case of an orange weather alert, local residents should keep away from bodies of water and low areas and instead head for higher ground or an upstairs room.

You should avoid going out if possible, but if you are driving, you should not begin down a road that is flooded, even if only partially.

Do not go down into cellars and basements, and make sure you keep up to date with the situation as it unfolds.

Related stories:

Orange alert for heavy rain and flooding for parts of southern France