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Seven departments in the north-east of France are on orange alert for torrential rain and flooding with Météo France warning that the equivalent of a whole September’s worth of rain will fall this evening.

Residents in Aube, Haute-Marne, Marne, Meurthe-et-Moselle, Meuse, Moselle and Seine-et-Marne have been warned of vastly reduced visibility when driving plus a grave danger of flooding when they should avoid river banks and driving on flooded sections of road.

The orange alert lasts from 18.00 this evening until 9.00 tomorrow and the whole north of France above a line from Bordeaux to Lake Geneva is on yellow alert for heavy rain, with expected falls of from 40mm to 80mm.

Météo France said “intermittent and moderate rain will become continuous and then increase during the course of the day from the tip of Brittany to the Germany border, then intensify strongly to become heavy or very heavy” during the night in the orange alert areas before dying out towards daybreak.

The storm is linked to storm Aileen that is sweeping across the UK.