Severe thunderstorms and record rains hit the Gard on Tuesday, September 14, where one person is still missing.
“A person is reported missing in the town of Aimargues after a fall in the Rhôny river”, southwest of Nîmes, said the prefecture of Gard on Tuesday evening in its latest press release.
Earlier in the day, two other people had been temporarily missing, in Aigues-Vives and Uchaud, two localities located near the A9 motorway connecting Nîmes to Montpellier. Moon “Has been found”, specified the prefecture at the end of the afternoon, adding that the research and the testimonies collected about the second led, “At this stage, to rule out the hypothesis of disappearance”. So far, no casualties except one “Slightly injured”, struck by lightning, had not been officially reported in the department.
Schools closed Wednesday
Come to meet the emergency services and the authorities on the spot, Tuesday evening, the Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, warned about the following events: “We are particularly vigilant in Hérault and Gard, where we fear other episodes of this type in the hours and days to come”.
The situation “Will deteriorate again from tonight”, had confirmed the prefecture, announcing that the “Public and private schools will remain closed on Wednesday”.
According to Météo-France, the Gard must return to orange vigilance for thunderstorms, rains, floods and floods on Wednesday, from 6 am: “We expect high rainfall intensities of the order of 80 millimeters [mm] to 100 mm in a short time locally “, rains that “Will sometimes intervene in areas weakened by the bad weather on Tuesday. “
The stormy wave, which has affected a large part of the south of France since the start of the day, was particularly active in the Gard, where it affected around sixty municipalities. Near Nîmes, the roof of a shopping center has partially collapsed. The department was placed on red vigilance between 11:30 a.m. and 2:00 p.m.
Gérald Darmanin described “Very exceptional, very concentrated and very unpredictable circumstances”. “Nothing foreshadowed an event of such magnitude”, had confirmed, in the afternoon, Marc Pontaud, expert from Météo-France: “244 mm in three hours at Saint-Dionisy, that’s something exceptional”, he insisted, recalling that the absolute record in the Gard was until then 216.4 mm in Saint-Martial on September 19, 2020.
“The impression of having a wave coming in”
In the village of Aubord, many ground floors were flooded, but without significant damage, testified the mayor André Brundu: “Fortunately, we still have, somewhere in our misfortune, the chance to have two large retention basins that have played their role, it is nearly 460,000 cubic meters of water that have been retained. “
“It went up suddenly”, noted the village grocer, Christelle Plagnes: “We had the impression of having a wave coming in, it was very impressive. “
It is especially at the level of transport that the disturbances were the strongest and the images most impressive. While many roads and bridges were cut, the A9 motorway, a major axis connecting the Rhône valley, the Marseille region and Italy to Spain, was closed for several hours. On this highway, “About thirty people were brought to safety by air and ground means”, said the firefighters, who carried out a total of sixty helicopter hoists and 450 safety interventions.
Around 8 p.m., the motorway was reopened in both directions, but not on all lanes, said the Vinci group, specializing in the operation of road infrastructure and which has the concession for this portion of the A9. Cleaning operations and work are still in progress.
Tuesday morning, Météo-France had placed six departments in orange vigilance. They had gone to twelve by the end of the afternoon. “Another phenomenon is starting in Midi-Pyrénées, where a hundred millimeters in three hours are expected”, warned Marc Pontaud, according to whom precipitation will again affect Languedoc in the second part of the night: “A priori, we exclude a worst-case scenario for the moment”, however, he reassured.
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