It’s been two years since it rained so hard in Perpignan. It’s not the rainy episode of the century, but in this land of the Pyrénées-Orientales in the grip of a historic drought, it’s always good to take.
Between Sunday and late Monday afternoon, 65 mm of rain had already fallen in Perpignan. This is the biggest rainy episode since November 2021 for the Pyrénées-Orientales prefecture, which continues to be rained on this Tuesday. “Moreover, with 77.7 mm since April 1, this is the first month with excess rainfall (+18%) for a very long time,” Météo Languedoc said on Monday evening.
Rain, finally, for a department where all the lights are in the red. The cumulative rainfall deficit over one year, in the Roussillon plain and on the coast, between April 2023 and March 2024, is between 60% and 70% compared to normal. The soils are extremely dry, as in summer, and the level of water tables is very worrying.
“The vegetation will consume the water that falls on the ground”
In its latest hydrological bulletin, the prefecture noted the absence of “winter recharge, or at least very weak, in the vast majority of sectors (in crisis), with no real observable positive dynamic”. At best, “relative stability”.
So these rains are seen as a gift falling from the sky. Regular, they will relieve the land, particularly agricultural, and will be able to penetrate the soil. But its consequences nevertheless appear to be relative. “Unfortunately, it is not the rains of recent days that will reverse the trend,” underlines hydrogeologist Patrick Lachassagne. The vegetation will consume the water that falls on the ground. It will therefore not be able to continue its path to the water tables.”