Flood alert.
Météo France reports seven French departments in flood orange vigilance this Monday morning: the Somme, Oise, Seine-et-Marne and Saône-et-Loire join Charente, Charente-Maritime and Loire-Atlantique.
Also beware of frost in the northern half of the country, making the roads slippery.
Great caution is in order for the morning, reports Météo France.
It is in Charente-Maritime and more particularly in Saintes that the Justine meteorological episode is most felt.
The rise of the Charente river should reach its peak on Monday, around 6.20 m according to forecasts.
The Secretary of State responsible for Biodiversity, Bérangère Abba, is expected on site in the morning.
🔶 7 deposits in #vigilanceOrange
Stay informed on https://t.co/CSYEovTI83 pic.twitter.com/8Nxp8RjcAv
- VigiMeteoFrance (@VigiMeteoFrance) February 8, 2021
Saintes, 25,000 inhabitants, is one of the municipalities most affected in Charente-Maritime by the rising waters.
The "plateau" of the flood is expected there Monday morning, around 6.20 m, according to Vigicrues.
This level confirms a new “historic” flood which exceeds that of 2007 (5.64 m), but without reaching the records of 1982 (6.84 m) and 1994 (6.67 m) - a year marked by a visit by boat of President François Mitterrand in Saintes.
22 affected municipalities
More than 300 firefighters, gendarmes and police, reinforced by neighboring departments and volunteers from Civil Protection and the Red Cross are deployed on the ground, to help the 22 disaster-stricken municipalities in the sector.
The firefighters carried out 528 interventions related to the meteorological event and the consecutive floods, including 155 on Sunday according to the last prefectural point.
In total, 315 people have been evacuated by firefighters since the start of the floods in Charente-Maritime, including 246 in Saintes, according to the same source.
A dozen surrounding municipalities also have their feet in the water, such as Courcoury, a village of 700 souls transformed into "an island" at midday, due to the main road cut, according to the chief of staff of the mayor of Saintes , Pauline David.
