Heavy rains caused damage and forced the evacuation of more than a thousand people in areas in southeastern France. According to authorities, the storms caused the biggest floods in decades in the region.
Six departments south of the city of Lyon have been placed on red alert for extreme rain and major flooding. Later, this Friday (18), the alert was downgraded to orange, but the situation still required care, according to authorities.
“In certain places in the Ardeche region (southeastern France), up to 700 millimeters of water fell in 48 hours. This represents more than a year’s rain in Paris. It was absolutely gigantic,” said Agnès Pannier-Runacher, the Minister of the Environment Ambiente, to the broadcaster BFM TV.
There were no reports of deaths related to the rains, but videos posted on social media show vehicles, road signs and animals being swept away by the floods. The A47 highway, near Lyon, was taken over by a gigantic flow of water, and houses in the region were submerged. According to the Ministry of the Interior, around 1,500 firefighters were sent to the worst-hit areas.
Data from the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), the UN agency for climate issues, indicate that extreme weather events such as droughts, floods, landslides, storms and fires have more than tripled over the last 50 years as a result of global warming.
Another body linked to the UN, the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change), has already stated in a report that today it is unequivocal that part of these changes were caused by human action.
