Apart from this problem, “no significant intervention” was necessary, said Lieutenant Franck Graciano, of the Departmental Fire and Rescue Service of the department, via Twitter: but “we will certainly have to wait until the morning to see if the residents of our department see damage”.
No department was placed on orange vigilance for thunderstorms on Thursday morning, after Météo-France lifted this alert for the last three departments concerned, Bouches-du-Rhône, Var and Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, in its 4 a.m. bulletin.
Up to 13 departments were still affected by this orange vigilance on Wednesday evening, from Hérault to Ain, in the south-east and center-east of France.
On this episode, we will have noted strong accumulations of precipitation in a short time: 106 mm in Montségur-sur-Lauzon in the Drôme, including 75 mm in 1 hour, 91 mm in Visan in the Vaucluse or 62 mm in Pont- Holy Spirit in the Gard.
Strong gusts were also observed, at 99 km / h in Montélimar (Drôme), 105 km / h in Rosans (Alpes-de-Haute-Provence) and 80 km / h in Aigues-Mortes (Gard) and Trets (Bouches -du-Rhone). Hail was also observed as the most virulent storm cells passed.
If this “strongly stormy situation at the end of summer required particular vigilance” according to Météo-France, due to “a strong risk of a violent phenomenon”, in particular in Gard and Hérault, momentarily placed in absolute vigilance, the damage was only minor.
On Wednesday evening, two homes were struck by lightning in Montpellier. Elsewhere in Hérault, lightning also caused damage, causing a fire to start in a house in Montaud and severely damaging a roof in Saint-Drezery.
On Wednesday afternoon, heavy rains had also fallen on the Baux-de-Provence sector, in the Alpilles, causing mudslides and the blocking of certain roads, as well as a dozen interventions by firefighters from the Bouches-du-Rhone.
