Eleven departments on the Atlantic coast were placed, on Sunday February 11 early in the morning, on orange alert for floods and/or waves-submersion, announced Météo-France, which specified that the situation was due to “the combination of strong waves at the coast and strong tides”. Floods are expected in Charente-Maritime, Gironde, Landes and the Pyrénées-Atlantiques.
The departments of Charente-Maritime, Côtes-d’Armor, Finistère, Gironde, Ille-et-Vilaine, Landes, Loire-Atlantique, Manche, Morbihan, Pyrénées-Atlantiques and Vendée are placed on wave-submersion vigilance. Orange vigilance runs until Sunday evening midnight.
Increased risk at the time of high seas
The waves generated by strong northwest winds “are still strong along the Atlantic coast, and will begin to gradually die down in the morning [Sunday], while a residual northwest swell will persist until bottom of the Bay of Biscay”, details Météo-France.
“The conjunction of these strong waves”, to which is added a high tidal coefficient, “risks causing submersion by overflow (…) on the coastline placed on wave-submersion alert”. “The risk is more marked at the time of high seas,” adds the meteorological agency.
In the South-East and Languedoc-Roussillon, a west to north-west wind will blow at 70 to 90 kilometers per hour at peak in the morning then gradually weaken in the afternoon. In the evening, the westerly wind will strengthen on the southern tip of Corsica with gusts of 70 to 80 kilometers per hour.