Météo France has downgraded Moselle and Meurthe-et-Moselle to orange vigilance for flooding. No département is now under red alert

Moselle and Meurthe-et-Moselle have been downgraded from red to orange vigilance for flooding, announced Météo France  at 10pm on Saturday 18 May.

Meurthe-et-Moselle had been placed on red alert for flooding this Saturday afternoon, a few hours after Moselle.

In addition to these two departments, the Bas-Rhin is also under an orange flood alert due to ‘thundery rain on saturated or even flooded ground’, said the weather office in its 10pm bulletin.

Remain cautious

The heavy rain has caused the Vezouze, a river that rises in the Vosges and flows into the Meurthe, to react, causing ‘exceptional flooding in the Lunéville area’, according to Vigicrues in its previous bulletin.

The water level ‘continues this Saturday’ and could reach the heights of the 2006 flooding episode, with a potential rise to 3.38 metres on Saturday night, compared with 0.77 metres on Friday.

The French Minister for Ecological Transition, Christophe Béchu, has called on residents to ‘adopt good behaviour’, in particular by postponing travel and keeping in touch with ‘vulnerable and isolated people’.

The situation is ‘improving’ in Moselle ‘

The Vezouze fell by 10 centimetres between 5.30pm and 7.30pm in Lunéville and it is continuing to fall, so we have not triggered the local protection plan”, Catherine Paillard, mayor of Lunéville, told AFP, seeking to reassure. ‘No homes have been affected. For the night, we are rather optimistic”, she added, while preventive pumping operations were put in place as soon as the first warnings were issued.

In Croismare, a few kilometres upstream, the river rose out of its banks without causing any major damage, said Bruno Minutiello, president of the Lunéville-Baccarat community of municipalities (communauté de communes du Territoire de Lunéville à Baccarat). ‘I remain on alert’, he added.

In the neighbouring department of Moselle, the situation is ‘improving’ and the number of interventions in progress is ‘decreasing’, according to the prefecture, despite the flooding of the river Nied, which is keeping the department on red alert, even though the ‘peak’ has ‘passed’.

Météo France has also placed the department under yellow alert for rain and thunderstorms. The prefecture predicts that this episode could lead to a rise in water levels by midday on Sunday.

500 homes without electricity

A risk of overtopping has been identified concerning the Salzbronn dyke, according to the French government. Around 130 people have been evacuated as a precautionary measure, some of whom have been rehoused by the local authority, and police patrols have been organised in the evacuated areas.

Around 500 homes ‘remain without electricity’, particularly in the Bouzonville area, according to the prefecture, which hopes that the power will be restored ‘by the end of the day’.

The Moselle region experienced heavy rainfall on Friday, with ‘the equivalent of more than a month’s rain falling in less than 24 hours’, according to the prefecture. More than 1,000 fire-fighters and 642 pieces of equipment were mobilised to respond to the emergency.

In the towns affected by the flooding the day before, the services are busy pumping out and cleaning up.

‘Trend’ towards receding water levels

We are managing the recession and recovering the squares, roads and public spaces damaged by the rising water”, explained Philippe Schutz, mayor of Boulay-Moselle. ‘One square saw its walls collapse under the pressure of the river. The Maison du Département has also lost its surrounding wall.

Other rivers are under orange flood alert, notably the Moder in the Bas-Rhin, as well as the Sarre and the Zorn.

‘The general trend is for the water to recede,’ said the Bas-Rhin prefecture, urging residents to stay away from the rivers.

‘Given the impact of the flooding on homes and businesses, particularly in Diemeringen, the prefect will request recognition of a natural disaster’, the prefecture added.