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WEATHER

Central France on alert for violent storms as man swept away in floods

One man is missing after storms battered parts of central France on Tuesday night. Some 12 departments have been placed on alert on Wednesday with the public warned to be vigilant.

Published: 14 June 2017 09:04 CEST
Central France on alert for violent storms as man swept away in floods
Photo: AFP

The missing man is believed to be a farmer who was swept away in his tractor by a torrent of flood water after storms hit the department of Haute-Loire in south central France.

The 27-year-old was swept away on Tuesday afternoon in the village of Brignon. According to reports he was helping firefighters find a way to a house an elderly person who was stranded due to flood waters when his vehicle was swept away.

Rescue teams continued to search for him on Wednesday morning.

Two kayakers were also reported missing in the same area but have since been accounted for.

Villages in the department were badly hit by hail stones, strong winds and floods after river levels rose rapidly following downpours.

Houses were submerged and cars were taken away by the powerful torrents. Roads were left blocked by fallen trees.

 

On Wednesday it was the turn of 12 departments in the south and east of the country to be placed on Orange alert for violent storms (see map below)

 

 

An orange alert warning for storms means the public are asked to be vigilant especially when travelling and taking part in leisure activities.

 

 

 

WEATHER

Norway to get a taste of summer with 20C days this week

Summer is finally here! Or least it is if you live in southern Norway, where a warm front coming up from Europe will bring t-shirt temperatures of 20C by Thursday, according to forecasts.

Published: 30 April 2024 08:42 CEST
Norway to get a taste of summer with 20C days this week

Warm air from southern Europe will combine with a high pressure zone which will bring clear skies and sunshine, with summery weather coming towards the end of the week, Norway’s national weather forecaster Yr has reported. 

“Thursday and Friday especially will be nice,” Ingrid Villa, a meteorologist at the Norwegian Meteorological Institute, told the public broadcaster NRK. “Then we will probably get temperatures of over 20 degrees Celsius in some places.” 

Patches of 20C warmth are expected both in western Norway around Bergen and in Western Norway around Oslo, with the area around Tromsø expected to have slightly cooler weather, although Villa said that “it will absolutely be something like summer there too”. 

The warm sunny weather is, however, expected to pass northern Norway by, with grey overcast skies expected for much of this week. 

But if you think summer has come to Norway to stay, you risk disappointment as much cooler temperatures are expected next week.  

“There’s nothing unusual in getting an early taste of summer in April and the start of May, and then we can quickly go back to cooler more spring-like weather,” Villa said. 

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