No clearing for Pas-de-Calais. As planned, the department will return to red “rain-flood” vigilance, the maximum alert level from Météo-France, from 2 p.m., Thursday, November 9. Thursday morning, the department was also placed on red “flood” alert, in areas close to two rivers, the Liane and the Aa, according to the Vigicrues service.
Météo France also announced, Thursday morning, that the departments of Nord and Seine-Maritime were placed on orange “rain-flood” vigilance. These alerts will come into effect at 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. respectively. Charente-Maritime remains on orange “flood” alert, while this is lifted in Charente. Follow these bad weather conditions live.
Schools in 74 municipalities in Pas-de-Calais closed. On Wednesday evening, the Pas-de-Calais prefecture announced that schools in 74 municipalities in Pas-de-Calais “particularly impacted by flooding” will be closed Thursday and Friday.
Significant accumulations of rain. In Pas-de-Calais, affected in recent days by spectacular flooding, Météo France expects “cumulative rain over a large western half” of the department which “will reach 50 to 70 mm, or even 80-100 mm locally”. In the Northern department, “the accumulations will reach 20 to 40 mm, or even locally 50 mm in the west of the department”adds the organization. Finally, in Seine-Maritime, the cumulative rainfall is likely to reach “50 to 70 mm in general, and up to 80-90 mm at the coast.”
Saturated soils. After weeks of precipitation, the soils are saturated in Pas-de-Calais, so “there is a strong fear that we will again have floods on rivers like the Canche or the Liane”declared Wednesday on franceinfo Alix Roumagnac, president of the company Predict, the “risks” subsidiary of Météo France. “We can hope for a start to return to normal during next week but depending on the area, some water tables are very high so it will take more time, sometimes several weeks,” he warned, noting that already, “several rivers (…) have exceeded flood levels never before observed.”