Floods in Southern France

3rd October 2015

 

The lowdown: Violent storms and flooding hit south-eastern France on Saturday. 17 people have been killed and 4 more are missing. Meteorologists issued a warning, but no one expected that the storms would dump nearly 200 litres of rain per square metre in less than three hours on an area between Nice and Cannes. The rainfall total was the equivalent of two months of downpours in the area. The areas worst-hit by flooding were also the hardest to access, officials said, raising fears the death toll could rise again. About 27,000 homes remained without power Sunday morning, 14,000 of them in Cannes alone. The flooded streets stranded many vehicles made numerous trees fall over. Forecasters at France's weather agency said the worst storms had now passed over the French mainland and were headed for the Italian coast. French President Francois Hollande announced a state of "natural disaster" in the affected regions.

 

 



Train stations were completely flooded with water, disrupting public transport for those coming in and out of the affected cities.

 

 

 

 

What causes a storm?

 

An area of warm, wet air and colder, dry air collide in a zone called a "front." The warm air is forced to rise above the cold air, causing an area of low atmospheric pressure, which acts sort of like a vacuum. Winds blow as more cold air rushes in to fill the vacuum.Gradually the formed clouds build up and precipitation occurs. The drops are too heavy to stay in the cloud so they start to fall, with cool winds.