Thunderstorms and rain: orange vigilance maintained in the Var and the Alpes-Maritimes

A “watering” of the entire territory was to be expected, Météo-France had alerted. The Var and the Alpes-Maritimes are still placed on orange alert until this Friday noon for a risk of “rain floods” and “thunderstorms”.

Several bursts of storms, sometimes violent, have already crossed the departments during the night from Thursday to Friday, with intense electrical activity and heavy rain.

Campsite evacuated

Although no significant damage was reported by the firefighters, some vacationers had a real scare. In the Alpes-Maritimes, 200 people accommodated in a campsite in the town of Pégomas were evacuated to two municipal halls in the middle of the night on orders from the prefect.

In the Var, 1,378 lightning strikes were recorded, with significant amounts of rain, the Var prefecture said this Friday. After a dry summer, 75 to 80 mm of precipitation fell in the towns of Draguignan and Seillans and 50 mm in the area of ​​the Gros Bessillon fire, declared extinguished earlier in the week.

Lightning strike

Several fire outbreaks were brought under control on Thursday following lightning strikes in the Roquebrune-sur-Argens and Barjols sectors. At the height of the episode, 26,000 homes were deprived of electricity. In the morning, 1,000 households were still affected in Toulon, Sainte-Maxime, Claviers and Seillans. In Bouches-du-Rhône, classified as yellow alert, firefighters recorded around fifteen interventions linked to storms and heavy rain overnight.