Photos: French towns submerged by Storm Leslie, alerts in place for river flooding
Homes evacuated and cars washed away amid record rainfall and river levels. Several villages have been left completely cut off
Flooding caused serious damage across the Ardèche department
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A man has died after being hit by an uprooted tree as Storm Leslie battered France yesterday, with severe flooding particularly affecting the south.
The tree was uprooted by the stormy weather and fell on the man as he walked nearby with his two children, aged 3 and 5, in the 19th arrondissement in Paris.
The children were taken to hospital but did not sustain life threatening injuries.
In the south, firefighters were called out thousands of times, and over 900 people had to be evacuated in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region due to rising river levels.
Some villages in Ardèche, which received nearly 700mm of rainfall, have been completely cut off by flooding. Local schools remain closed today.
Schools were also closed in nice and train and bus services were suspended in the early evening.
Red-tier weather alerts – the highest possible – were in place in six departments in the south of France last night, for heavy rain / flash flooding and river flooding.
Heightened weather warnings for rain and storms were lifted at 14:00, however are still in place for river flooding in Landes, Pyréneés-Atlantiques, Loire, and Bouches-du-Rhône. They are currently forecast to remain in place until Saturday (October 19).
Those in these areas should be particularly careful when outside, especially if driving, as there is a risk of roads in rural areas still being flooded.
Half of annual rainfall level fell in two days
The brunt of rainfall in central France began around midday yesterday leading to flooded motorways, other roads and towns, particularly in the Ardèche.
Between Wednesday morning and Thursday night at least 10 communes in the department recorded over 300 mm of rainfall.
The highest amount fell in Mayres, a record-breaking 689 mm (almost 70 cm). This is around half the annual level of rain that falls in the department, said Ardèche Préfète Sophie Elizéon to FranceInfo on Thursday (October 17) evening.
Annonay, a principal town in the department, was completely overwhelmed by flooding, with schools, nurseries, and workplaces in the town centre being evacuated.
Flood waters reached up to 1.5 metres in parts of Ardèche, submerging some buildings.
Nearly 700 homes lost power across the region during the flooding. Three people were injured.
Minister of Ecological Transition Agnès Pannier-Runacher and Minister of Security Nicolas Daragon were due to visit the department today.
Ms Pannier-Runacher said the rainfall had reached levels ‘never before seen in human memory’.
Widespread flooding
Other departments also suffered extreme rainfall, including the Alpes-Maritimes.
Various communes in the west and mountainous north faced over 100 mm of rain last night, with the highest amount falling in Caussols (311 mm).
Images and videos of the storms from across France shared on social media can be seen below.
