France: Within 3 hours, 244 mm of rain fell in the province of Gare

A missing person was found in France the day after heavy rains and rain, a record hit the southern part of the country near Nimes.

A 65-year-old man “who was initially said to have fallen into Ronnie”, a Wistre tributary, “had taken refuge while the water level was rising”, the Gar prefecture said.

“We have stopped the rescue operations following information from the gendarmerie that this man has been found,” firefighters told AFP.

Having warned in its first bulletin of a “negligible danger of strong phenomena” in Gar and Héroe, the next bulletin from the French Meteorological Service (Météo France) seemed less alarming, with a total of five apartments in portable condition. storms and floods, along with Ardes, Drum and Iser.

Reiterating that this late-summer weather event “is not unusual for the season”, the Meteorological Institute predicts that “it can cause significant amounts of rain in a short time”. Rains of 80 to 100 mm are expected locally according to the APE-MPE.

France: Rain record

Yesterday Tuesday, rains records were recorded in Gar, with 244mm in three hours in Saint-Dionizi, much higher than the previous record of 216.4 millimeters in Saint-Martial on September 19, 2020. “Nothing foreshadowed an event of this magnitude,” said Marc Ponto, an expert at Météo France.

Faced with these forecasts, Gar decided yesterday, Tuesday, to close all schools for today.

Some secondary roads remained closed to traffic today in the affected area, southwest of Nimes. The 800 firefighters deployed on the field continue non-emergency operations.

Meanwhile, traffic resumed on Route 9, where about 30 trapped people were airlifted away between Nimes and Montpellier.