Météo-France announced on Friday 17 May that Moselle has been placed on red alert for the risk of rain and flooding from this afternoon

The Moselle département has been placed on red alert for heavy rain and flooding from 3pm, according to Météo-France on Friday 17 May.

Three other departments (Vosges, Bas-Rhin and Meurthe-et-Moselle) have been placed on orange alert for flooding and/or rain and flooding.

‘Since Thursday evening, a spell of rain, sometimes stormy, has begun over a small part of the north-east of the country. The rain is expected to persist for part of Friday”, said Météo-France in its bulletin.

However, the agency predicts that the rain will gradually ease off ‘on Friday evening’ as it moves northwards. In Moselle, the red alert is due to expire at 9pm and be downgraded to yellow.

500 interventions underway by the SDIS The SDIS 57 reports to H24 MEDIA that 177 communes are currently affected by flooding. 400 fire-fighters are mobilised, including water rescue specialists. At this stage, 500 interventions are underway in the department.

Rescue workers are calling for increased vigilance in the Boulay, Saint-Avold, Sarreguemines and Bouzonville areas, as the situation is likely to deteriorate over the coming hours. No information on the number of people injured or evacuated has been released by the SDIS.

On X, Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin urged ‘the utmost caution’. ‘I call on the people of Moselle to exercise the utmost caution and to respect the instructions given by the authorities’, he wrote.