several departments in west-central France with their feet in the water after heavy rains

The floods led to the evacuation of hundreds of houses, particularly in the departments of Indre and Vienne, on Saturday morning.

Residents of communities bordering Creuse, Vienne, Anglin, Vincou and Gartempe saw the water rising, sometimes even into their homes. After heavy rains during the night of Friday March 29 to Saturday March 30, floods hit several departments in west-central France. While Indre-et-Loire and Vienne were placed on red flood alert by Météo-France on Saturday afternoon and Charente, Charente-Maritime, Gironde, Haute-Vienne and Dordogne remain on alert. orange alert until Sunday, franceinfo looks back on the damage observed on Saturday in several municipalities.

Houses evacuated in Indre

“For us, it’s Venice without the gondolas and without the charm”, lamented to AFP the mayor of Bélâbre (Indre), Laurent Laroche. From the morning, the flood of the Anglin, a tributary of the Creuse river, affected the town, rising to “historic levels”, noted on X, the vice-president of the Météo-Centre association.

In addition to the Anglin, the Sonne, a tributary of the Abloux, also overflowed, as evidenced by this video posted online on Saturday morning and filmed in Luzeret.

In the morning, around forty people were evacuated in Indre after the flood of the Creuse river, which penetrated some houses up to 1.50 m high, without causing any casualties. In Le Blanc, the entrance to the hospital was partially blocked by water from the Creuse, and patients had to be directed to the upper part of the establishment, reported France 3 Centre-Val-de-Loire. According to the prefecture, the Creuse also overflowed and caused damage in Argenton-sur-Creuse, where several underground car parks were flooded, our colleagues report.

Montmorillon town center with its feet in the water

In Vienne, the town center of Montmorillon, 6,000 inhabitants, was flooded in the morning by a flood of the Gartempe, the main tributary of the Creuse river, without major damage, according to the prefecture. At the end of the morning, the watercourse exceeded 4.50m in height, almost 2.50m higher than its usual level.

Around a hundred houses, around fifty businesses and the town hall were evacuated, reported France Bleu Poitou as well as the mayor of the town, Bernard Blanchet, contacted by franceinfo. In the evening, France Bleu reported of 15 families relocatedwhile around ten people were to dine and probably spend the night at the gym requisitioned by the municipality, not counting the victims who organized themselves to spend the night in safety.

At 5 p.m., the Vienne prefecture announced that if Gartempe was still in raw orange vigilance, but that “the decline [avait] begin“, reported France 3 Nouvelle-Aquitaine. A little before 8 p.m., the river had descended to 3.90 meters, France Bleue reported.

Several flooded roads were also cut in this area located around fifty kilometers east of Poitiers, while further south, an Internet user published in the morning the photo of a car swept away by the flood of Vincou, at Bellac (Haute-Vienne).

In Dordogne, several rivers have burst their banks, reported France Bleu Périgord, while in Périgueux, part of the greenway was submerged. Several streets in Tourtoirac were flooded after the rise of the Auvezère and some businesses had to close.