Orange “rain-flood” vigilance is extended to a fourth department. Drôme is added to the departments of Hérault, Gard and Ardèche, announces Météo-France. The Cévennes episode, which began in the morning and will intensify “especially at midday”, must last until Thursday morning, indicates in a press release the public body, pointing “already occasionally from 30 to 50 mm » of water falling into the Hérault.
In addition to Hérault, the rains are expected to intensify on Wednesday morning in the Gard, “in particular on the relief and the first Cevennes foothills”. They will be persistent in places “with intensities of up to 80 mm per hour, especially in the late afternoon and evening” while extending to Ardèche and Drôme, according to the same source.
Up to 150 to 200 mm in the Cévennes
The total expected accumulation for the episode is 150 to 200 mm in the Cévennes and their foothills, “with possible peaks between 200 and 250 mm, very occasionally a little more”.
From 70 to 100 mm of water are expected in the plain “in a short time”, very occasionally more (around 150 mm) due to a risk “of storm cells which may not be very mobile”. “The uncertainty concerns the precise location of the highest precipitation accumulations. These could concern urbanized plain regions more sensitive to intense rain,” notes Météo-France.