Some lanes were closed due to flooding in Reims. – FRANCOIS NASCIMBENI / AFP
Violent thunderstorms accompanied by heavy rains flooded some streets and buildings in Reims on Friday afternoon and affected other parts of the Marne department, without causing injuries, we learned from the prefecture, which opened a crisis unit. “Between 2:45 p.m. and 4:15 p.m., locally violent thunderstorms affected the city of Reims, part of the Côte des Blancs (
Epernay, Avize) and the mountain of Reims ”, indicates the prefecture, evoking 100 interventions of firefighters linked to bad weather.
In Reims, the municipal police neutralized traffic in flooded areas and assisted people stranded in their vehicles. The firefighters were sent to reconnoitre the Municipal Archives, in view of a risk of the roof collapsing, while the Treasury building and the artistic wasteland of La Fileuse were flooded, according to the same source. “In places the traffic had to be cut because a torrent of water poured into certain streets”, described the mayor of the city Arnaud Robinet on BFMTV. “There is a return to normal. Things are going in the right direction after this flood, ”he added.
Météo France placed the three departments of Aisne, Nord and Pas-de-Calais on orange alert for “high intensity” storms on Friday. The Marne, for its part, has been placed in yellow vigilance. “Locally violent thunderstorms (hail and heavy accumulations of rain) concern Aisne, the east of the Nord department and Champagne-Ardenne” specifies the 4:00 pm weather report for France, forecasting precipitation of up to “30 to 60 mm within one hour “.