Floods in France Force Evacuations and Cut Power to Homes

ltcinsuranceshopper By ltcinsuranceshopper February 3, 2025


Flooding caused by Storm Herminia forced the evacuation of thousands of people in northwest France, while hundreds of homes remain without power.

Back-to-back storms — Éowyn followed by Herminia — have triggered the worst flooding in 40 years in parts of Brittany. Three departments — Ille-et-Vilaine, Loire-Atlantique and Morbihan — remain on red alert as further heavy rain shuts schools and disrupts transport systems.

The most severe flooding is expected along the Vilaine and Seiche rivers, according to Meteo France. However, by early Thursday, water levels were stabilizing.

The flooding also threatened the region’s grain crops, with many fields covered by over a meter of water, according to a statement from farmers’ union FDSEA.

Another five departments in France were kept on orange alert for floods and heavy rains.

In Portugal, red warnings were downgraded to amber, following forecasts for waves as high as 15 meters (49 feet) earlier on Thursday along the coast north of Lisbon. Red alerts remained in place for the Basque coast in Spain.

The next two months could remain windy and rainy, with wetter-than-normal conditions and an ocean pattern bringing increased chances for “clusters” of storms across western Europe, according to a longer-term weather outlook published by the UK Met Office.

The avalanche danger level across the Swiss Alps was lowered to 3 from 4, as the situation stabilized following up to 120 centimeters (47 inches) of snow over the previous four days. The threat had increased after strong winds compounded the risk from heavy falls on weak layers of older snow, according to the WSL Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research.

There were a number of avalanche fatalities across the Alps, including four backcountry skiers in Val-Cenis in France’s Savoie region.

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Flood

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