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WEATHER

Floods LATEST: Residents in Southwest France urged to stay home as waters rise

Two départements in south west France are on red alert for floods, as prolonged rainfall in the region takes its toll.

Published: 10 December 2021 13:09 CET
Updated: 10 December 2021 16:53 CET
Partially submerged cars on a road running along the banks of the River Nive in Bayonne.
Partially submerged cars on a road running along the banks of the River Nive in Bayonne. Photo: Gaizka Iroz / AFP

In its early afternoon weather update, national forecaster Météo-France upgraded weather warnings in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques and the Landes from orange to red alert – its highest level – with nine further départements remaining on orange alert for a range of weather events.

A new peak of the Nive in Bayonne – which broke its banks earlier in the day reached a record high of 6.26m today, breaking its previous highest level of 5.15m set during the floods of December 2018 – is expected at about 10pm, authorities have said, warning residents and visitors to avoid the town centre. It is feared the new highest peak level may be broken again later on Friday.

Elsewhere, the red flood risk in the Landes and Pyrénées-Atlantiques departments concerns a single watercourse: the Adour, upstream from Bayonne, in an area known as the Bec du Gave, according to floods watchdog Vigicrues.

Meanwhile, officials in Laruns were to decide this afternoon whether to evacuate some of the Pyrénées-Atlantiques’ village’s 2,200 inhabitants as flood waters continue to rise.

The prefecture of the Pyrénées-Atlantiques had earlier warned against travel in the département after heavy rains caused widespread flooding, after part of the A63 motorway near Bayonne was temporarily closed because of rising water. The road – a major artery between France and Spain – reopened shortly after 3pm.

Meanwhile, rail link is closed between Bayonne and Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port is closed following a landslide.

There will be little respite in the next few hours, département prefect Eric Spitz warned. He said that forecasts predicted another 140mm of rain are expected in Laruns and 80mm in Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port in the next few hours

He told BFMTV that ’50 people’ had to be evacuated from Petit Bayonne early on Friday morning, at the confluence of the Nive and the Adour, as well as a crèche, after the River Nive burst its banks.

Meanwhile an earlier landslide forced residents of a village near the border with Spain to flee their homes, after the equivalent of two to three weeks’ rain fell overnight in in the Basque Country.

By 4am on Friday, 122.8mm of rain was recorded in Laruns, 92.1mm in Iraty, 86.2mm in Larrau and 63.2mm in Cambo-les-Bains.

READ ALSO ‘Atmospheric river’ prompts flood and avalanche alerts in southwest France

Further east, municipal buildings responsible for the management of urban rainwater are inaccessible in Tarbes, Hautes-Pyrénées. “We ask you to be extra vigilant today, especially near waterways,” the Tarbes-Lourdes-Pyrénnées agglomeration, warned.

 

A press release said that 18 primary schools in the département and two colleges – in Pontacq and Baïgorry – had been closed because of the bad weather, while a nursery and a retirement home near the river were evacuated.

The prefecture said that 148 firefighters and 62 police officers were dealing with a total of 230 call-outs, including 70 that were ongoing on Friday morning.

A crisis unit has been opened in the city and the prefecture has called on people to avoid travelling in the area. Access to the river Nive is prohibited.

The départemental prefecture also urged residents to observe “the greatest vigilance” and “avoid travel”. It also said that electronic devices should be unplugged and to avoid basements. 

“Damaging overflows” have also been reported on the Nivelle, the Saison, the Gaves d’Oloron and Pau, the Adour, and the Arros.

In addition, landslides in Biriatou, south of popular resort of Hendaye, along the Spanish border, forced about 20 residents to be evacuated.

Seven other départements in southwest and southeastern France remain on orange weather alerts: Ariège, Haute-Garonne, and Hautes-Pyrénées for heavy rainfall and floods;  Gers, and Hautes-Pyrénées for flooding; while the Ariège, Haute-Garonne, Isère, Pyrénées-Atlantiques, Hautes-Pyrénées, Savoie, Haute-Savoie, Savoie and Haute-Savoie are also on avalanche watch.

The southeastern départements are also on alert for snow and ice.

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ENVIRONMENT

How likely are droughts and water restrictions in France in summer 2024?

Much of France has faced severe flooding this winter, but other areas already face water restrictions, and there's an extra variable in store global weather patterns play their part

Published: 12 April 2024 17:50 CEST
How likely are droughts and water restrictions in France in summer 2024?

France’s Bureau de Recherches Géologiques et Minières (BRGM) most recent report, in early March, revealed that the water table in France was ‘satisfactory over a large part of the country’, with levels above normal for the time of year in 46 percent of the country’s underground aquifers.

It warned at the time, however, that levels were low to very low in parts of Alsace, as well as in the Saône corridor and areas of Languedoc, from the south of the Massif Central to the coast, and the Roussillon area of southwest France.

March, too, was a wet month across the bulk of France – it was the fifth wettest since records began in 1958, according to national forecaster Météo-France.

Crucially however, most of the rain falling on the ground in France now will be gobbled up by vegetation, which means that very little water will make it through to aquifers. The groundwater recharge period, when underground water tables are refilled, is now over until late autumn 2024.

Basically, the water table is about as high as it’s going to get this summer.

Which brings us back to the weather.

Long-range forecasts are notoriously inaccurate but after a mild, wet winter, forecasters expect another dry, warm summer overall, following a cooler-than-normal and occasionally wet spring.

April, for example, is set to be marked by cool spells, though, for the April-May-June quarter as a whole, temperatures are expected to remain above seasonal averages. Forecasters warn that a higher-than-usual number of Spring storms could affect the south-east of the country.

Long-range models suggest, however, that June could be hot and dry, with consequences for agriculture – though groundwater levels should be high enough to cope comfortably.

Forecasting further into the summer is even less certain than normal because – over in the Pacific – El Nino is expected to be replaced by La Nina much faster than normal, making weather prediction difficult. 

The consensus is, however, that the cooling effect of La Nina will not be felt until much later in the year. That said, it will have a more immediate effect on weather activity in the North Atlantic. Forecasters are already predicting a record-breaking hurricane season – which will have an effect on French weather patterns.

Between May and July, forecast temperatures in France are likely to remain 1C to 2C above seasonal averages. Precipitation is expected to be fairly close to average, with a tendency for thunderstorms, especially in the south.

Forecast models predict a wet end to April, a fine and dry May, a hot and occasionally thundery June, and a warmer-than-normal July punctuated by thunderstorms – though some forecasts suggest more mixed weather in the north in the seventh month.

With water tables currently well recharged, the national water situation for the summer is, right now, giving experts little cause for concern. 

Thunderstorms are expected to provide occasional watering to limit surface drought, which is always possible even if water tables are well recharged. The summer of 2024 therefore looks set to be different from recent droughts. 

However, this is not to say water restrictions are not impossible, or even unlikely. In certain areas, notably the Aude and Pyrénées-Orientales, where rainfall has been well below average for years, the situation is already serious.

While the rest of the country saw high rainfall in March, these two départements were recording 50 percent less rain than normal.

These areas are already facing a range of water restrictions. To find out whether restrictions are in place where you live, consult the Vigieau website, which offers information on a national, regional and local level.

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