No clearing for Pas-de-Calais. As planned, the department will return to red “rain-flood” vigilance, the maximum alert level from Météo-France, from 2 p.m., Thursday November 9. Thursday morning, the department was also placed on red “flood” alert, in areas close to two rivers, the Liane and the Aa, according to the Vigicrues service.
Meteo France also announced, Thursday morning, that the departments of Nord and Seine-Maritime were placed on orange “rain-flood” vigilance. These alerts will come into effect at 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. respectively. Charente-Maritime remains on orange “flood” alert, while this is lifted in Charente. Follow these bad weather conditions live.
Schools in 74 municipalities in Pas-de-Calais closed. On Wednesday evening, the prefecture of Pas-de-Calais announced that the educational establishments of 74 municipalities in the department, “particularly impacted by flooding”will be closed Thursday and Friday.
Heavy rain expected. In Pas-de-Calais, already affected in recent days by spectacular flooding, Météo France expects to see the equivalent of “a little less than a month of precipitation” between Thursday morning and late Friday morning. “The cumulative rainfall will reach 50 to 70 mm, or even 90/100 mm locally, in Boulonnais and [du] Montreuillois”warns the vigilance bulletin. Forecasters expect up to 50 mm of precipitation locally in the Nord department, while in Seine-Maritime, accumulations are likely to reach 50 to 70 mm, or even 80 to 90 mm on the coast, mainly in the northern half. of the department.
Saturated soils. After weeks of precipitation, the soils are already saturated with water in Pas-de-Calais. “There is a strong fear that we will again have floods on rivers like the Canche or the Liane”declared Wednesday on franceinfo Alix Roumagnac, president of the company Predict, the “risks” subsidiary of Météo France. “We can hope for a start to return to normal during next week, but depending on the area, some water tables are very high, so it will take more time, sometimes several weeks”he warned, noting that “several rivers (…) have exceeded flood levels never before observed.”