France grapples with fresh flooding threat as water levels rise

Several cities across France are bracing for renewed flooding following days of intense storms that have battered large parts of the country.

French authorities have placed multiple regions on the highest flood alert, warning that rising water levels could continue to cause serious damage in the coming days. Meteorological services say heavy flooding is likely between Wednesday and Thursday as another storm system moves through the country.

Latest updates from the national flood monitoring agency show that about 70 departments remain on flood watch, with three under red alert and 15 on orange alert. Maine-et-Loire in western France has now been added to the highest-risk category, alongside Gironde and Lot-et-Garonne in the south-west.

Officials warned that Angers, in the Loire Valley, could face major flooding from the River Maine on Tuesday and Wednesday. Further south, the River Garonne, which had already overflowed between Agen and Bordeaux, was expected to rise again after a brief lull.

The severe weather has already claimed at least one life, after a lorry driver was killed when a tree fell during the storm in western France. Nearly 900,000 homes were left without electricity at the height of the disruption.

Powerful winds, with gusts reaching up to 162km/h near the south-west coast, forced the closure of Alpine ski resorts due to a high avalanche risk, while trees were uprooted and roads submerged. Electricity providers earlier reported that hundreds of thousands of households, particularly in southern France, were without power as crews worked to restore supply.

The storm system also caused widespread disruption beyond France, affecting parts of northern Spain and Portugal. Flights, trains, and ferry services were cancelled, major roads were blocked, dozens of people were injured in Spain, and a viaduct in Portugal partially collapsed due to flooding.

Forecasters have described the storm as unusually powerful, noting that the succession of heavy rainfall has left soils extremely saturated. Hydrologists warned that even modest additional rainfall could trigger further flooding.

Red flood alerts are expected to remain in place in Gironde, Lot-et-Garonne, and Maine-et-Loire, although officials say the number of areas under orange alert may slightly decline.

France’s Minister for the Ecological Transition said a state of emergency would be declared once floodwaters recede, allowing insurance claims to be fast-tracked. She noted that climate experts had long warned such extreme events would become more frequent, adding that those predictions were now becoming reality.

The head of the national flood monitoring service also described the series of rainstorms as exceptional, stressing that with ground conditions already at record saturation levels, as little as 20–30mm of additional rainfall could lead to new flooding.