Floods fear as storms alert level increased in southern France
Two southern departments, H茅rault and Gard, are expected to see the worst of the storms and heavy rain
The stormy conditions are expected to move east across the country over the weekend. The top-left photo is M茅t茅o France鈥檚 warning for Friday and the bottom-right for Saturday
evasion228 / Jaromir Chalabala / Shutterstock
France's national forecaster M茅teo France on Friday (June 9) afternoon increased the weather-warning levels for two southern French departments as storms and heavy rain swept in.
H茅rault and Gard are now on the second-highest orange level alert for storms and floods on Friday evening. Weather channel La Cha卯ne m茅t茅o says Bouches-du-Rh么ne will also see heavy rain.
It comes amid a very unsettled weather picture for France this weekend. The majority of the country is on alert for storms. Starting in western France on Friday morning, they were expected to move east on Saturday (June 10).
H茅rault and Gard aside, all M茅teo France warnings are 鈥榣evel two鈥� yellow alerts, which signify people should be cautious when outside and keep up to date with local weather reports. Orange-level alerts advise people to be extra vigilant because dangerous weather is forecast.
Over the last month, France鈥檚 normal meteorological patterns have been turned on their head, with sun and dry conditions in the north and stormy, unsettled weather affecting the south.
We reported earlier this week that Paris, Lille and Nantes had gone more than three weeks without rain - a record for this time of year.
Storm moving east across France
On Friday, all departments in the west of the country, and most southern departments, are on alert over storms, alongside two departments in the east (Doubs and Jura).
In total, 52 departments are facing warnings on Friday.
The stormy conditions are set to move east across France with Saturday seeing slightly more warnings (54 departments). But the majority of these are in the north, centre, and south-east of the country.
Brittany, and most departments in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, do not currently have storm warnings in place for Saturday.
Departments on the Swiss and Italian borders do however have alerts in place.
These official warnings are relayed by M茅t茅o France and are updated daily to give information for the next 48 hours.
You can find the latest information .
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