Part of the Grand-Est is still underwater. The Moselle was placed on red flood alert in the early hours of Saturday by Météo-France due to an “exceptional flood” of the Nieds rivers, with a peak “of the order of five meters”, according to Vigicrues. The monitoring service reports a “direct and generalized threat to the security of people and property”.
A height that exceeds the records of 1983 and 1997
“The exceptional rain observed caused a rapid rise in all the watercourses in the Nieds watershed,” Vigicrues noted on its site on Saturday morning. “On the French Nied, the moderate reaction will continue” on Saturday in the “Ancerville and Condé-Northen” sectors, asserts Vigicrues, also announcing a “significant reaction” from the German Nied which “will continue on Saturday and Sunday » in the sectors of “Faulquemont and Varize”.
“On the Nied Réunée, the flood peak, with a height of around five meters, is underway in the Filstroff sector,” indicates the same source. The height reached exceeds “the historic floods of April/May 1983 and February 1997”, notes Vigicrues.
The height of the flood of the German Nied in the commune of Faulquemont on February 26, 1997 was measured at 3.49 meters, and at 4.35 meters the same day in Filstroff for the united Nied (same height in May 1983), reports a surveillance regulation dated 2020 available on the Vigicrues website. The Moselle had been placed on red rain-flood alert on Friday, but the alert was downgraded to orange at 10 p.m.
No deaths or injuries
The department experienced abundant rainfall: “the equivalent of more than a month of rain fell in less than 24 hours,” the prefecture explained on Friday evening, referring to an “impressive but not dramatic” situation and deploring “no dead or injured.”
More than 1,000 firefighters and 642 engines were mobilized to respond to the emergency, according to state services.
Neighboring Bas-Rhin was kept on orange flood alert by Météo-France at 6 a.m., while the alert was downgraded to yellow for the Vosges and Meurthe-et-Moselle.