It is a large part of France which, on Saturday, found itself battered by violent storms.
Swept by a deluge of rain, but also hail, for several hours, the country suffered significant damage which, in the North, mourned the city of Rouen.
In the heart of the Norman capital, a mudslide, caused by suddenly saturated sewerage networks, carried away a young woman in its path.
According to a probable scenario, which the Rouen public prosecutor's office, now seized, seeks to verify, the victim would have found himself trapped under a car and died of drowning.
"A terrible tragedy"
, laments the mayor of the city, Nicolas Mayer-Rossignol.
Across the country, fifteen other injured were recorded, according to the Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, who, as of Sunday morning, drew up an initial assessment of the storm.
Among these victims, a 13-year-old boy living in Indre-et-Loire, who is, according to the minister,
“in critical condition
”.
According to the public prosecutor of Tours, Grégoire Dulin, and according to the first elements of the investigation available to him, the minor crossed the road outside a protected passage and was hit by a motorist who did not take him. did not see due to heavy rain.
However, the number of victims remains low in view of the intensity of the storm, which seems to have taken many people by surprise.
Thus on the national domain of Chambord, in the Loir-et-Cher, the 30,000 unit scouts of France, who had gathered to celebrate the 50th anniversary of their movement, had to be sheltered, including one third inside the castle.
Previously, their tents had all been knocked down by strong gusts.
In many other regions, spectacular gusts of wind were noted, such as in Yonne, near Avallon, where they exceeded 100 km / h.
Traffic blocked on several main lines
With these violent storms, the firefighters were particularly mobilized.
During this day, where no less than "
50,000 lightning strikes were recorded
", according to Gérald Darmanin, 2,400 firefighters were engaged, carrying out a total of 3,500 interventions.
According to the Ministry of the Interior, it is
"the first time in twenty years"
that such a vast part of the territory has been crossed simultaneously by storms, affecting a total of 65 departments.
Sunday morning, despite the rapid intervention of technicians, more than 15,000 homes were still without electricity.
From the beginning of this week, communities will begin to quantify the amount of damage.
The note may be salty.
As in Rouen, many cities have indeed seen their streets transformed into a torrent, heavily damaging the roads.
"
This umpteenth episode of violent weather again poses the problem of water runoff and the artificialization of the soil, the origin of these mudslides
", indicates the mayor of Rouen who expects expensive expenses .
In addition to the damaged streets, dikes and retention ponds have been damaged, and this will require heavy repairs
.”
Undoubtedly in connection with the storms, the circulation of trains remained very disturbed Sunday, for several hours, on the rail network departing from and arriving at the Gare du Nord in Paris.
Until mid-afternoon, a power outage blocked traffic on several main lines.
From a climatic point of view, how to analyze this XXL storm?
One fact is certain: it comes as the month of May has broken heat records and drought is severely affecting many regions.
For some specialists, these bad weather are part of the extreme events that can now be expected due to climate change.
