Hailstones of an impressive size… Forty-eight hours after an unprecedented episode of heat wave, the Gironde suffered a very violent hailstorm Monday evening shortly after 10 p.m. And the first reports which begin to fall this Tuesday morning report very significant damage in certain sectors.
At 8:30 a.m., the firefighters indicated that they had carried out 862 interventions in 56 municipalities, mainly in the west of the Bordeaux agglomeration, and the north of the department. These are essentially flooded premises. The prefecture reports “four minor injuries” and “15,000 power cuts” in the wine-growing areas of Libournais and Nord-Médoc.
80% of homes affected in Taillan-Médoc near Bordeaux
Contacted by 20 minutes, the mayor of Taillan-Médoc, Agnès Versepuy, is devastated. “About 80% of the houses in the town are impacted to a greater or lesser extent, and many are uninhabitable with collapsed ceilings,” she says. Many people left the commune overnight because they could no longer stay at home. »
The town hall had to reopen its doors at night to welcome the first victims. A dozen people were rehoused with the help of civil protection, others took refuge with neighbours. “People can continue to go to town hall today, continues the mayor, so that we take into account each situation. People are shocked, some have lost everything, and many don’t have cars and can’t even go to buy tiles. If roofers want to come, if people want to help with their vehicles, they are welcome. »
The elected official also warns against attempted fraud. “You have to be careful of fake canvassers: ill-intentioned people show up on the part of the town hall to come and cover the houses. If there is any doubt, call us. »
600 houses affected in Saint-Médard-en-Jalles
Contacted by 20 minutes also, the mayor of the neighboring town of Saint-Médard-en-Jalles, Stéphane Delpeyrat, reports “240 firefighter interventions during the night, another 90 in the morning and around 200 on standby at 10 am. Some 600 homes were affected. “The most urgent thing is to cover the roofs to prevent further rains, expected this Tuesday evening, from aggravating the situation, while several ceilings have collapsed. “Several people had to be accommodated” with their families or in hotels, and we opened a room overnight. »
The schools of Saint-Médard-en-Jalles had to be repaired overnight and were able to open this morning. But the gendarmerie was very seriously affected, underlines the mayor who indicates that he has asked the metropolis to intervene.
“Incredibly violent”
The storm did not only affect this sector in the northwest of the agglomeration. He also crossed the entire wine-growing area of Médoc and Libournais. Several vineyard plots were also severely affected.
Amandine, a resident of Asques, a small town near Saint-André-de-Cubzac north of Bordeaux, says that “it was incredibly violent. “We were very scared because we didn’t know if the roof and the windows were going to hold up. The size of hailstones ranged from golf ball to bocce ball. I had never seen that here in fifteen years. The pergola was completely destroyed and my swimming pool was transformed into a jacuzzi for a moment with the force of the hailstones. Like many, the car is affected, including the cracked windshield. »
In the Pyrénées-Atlantiques and in the Dordogne too
The Gironde was not the only department affected. In the Béarn sector of the Pyrénées-Atlantiques, residents of villages on the outskirts of Pau have posted images of huge hailstones of this size, and damaged windshields. The firefighters carried out at least 450 interventions there, in particular in the sectors of Nay, Pau and Soumoulou. “Several hundred houses” southeast of Pau were “damaged” and “a few minor injuries” were taken care of by firefighters, indicates the prefecture of Pyrénées-Atlantiques.
In Dordogne, nearly 300 interventions had been carried out in the middle of the night in 36 affected municipalities, particularly those of Ribérac, La Roche-Chalais and Vanxains in the west of the department. “Three nursing homes were impacted by bad weather,” said the firefighters.
Météo-France recorded 55 mm of rain in Clion (Charente-Maritime), 41 mm in Angoulême and measured gusts of wind of 112 km / h in Cognac (Charente), 109 km / h in Cap-Ferret, on the Bassin Arcachon, and 106 km/h in Bordeaux-Mérignac.