Campsite evacuations, Ardeche and Ceze regions of France

[ValA.]

During last night storms in the Ardeche caused the rivers Ceze and Ardeche to rise by up to eight metres. Apparently campsites alongside these two rivers have been evacuated, with campers taking refuge in Salles de Fete and schools. From reading the local press it looks like the Pompiers took advance warning, and were able to evacuate before the floods actually occured. From one photograph it looks as if on one site caravans were moved to higher ground before the water actually rose. One Dutchman is quoted as saying Thank You to the Pompiers for acting so quickly. Apparently water levels dropped as fast as they rose, and the Pompiers are now able to start a clean up operation.
Also, according to La Chaine Meteo 348mm rain fell in six hours on the village of Conqueyrac between Sauve and St Hippolyte du Fort - on the Vidourle river, so no doubt that rain is now heading down towards the Mediterranean at Grau du Roi and Boucanet where the river Vidourle hits the sea.
I hope no one from this forum has been affected by the flooding in any way.

 

[KeithJ]

Hi Val

Are you down that way at the moment?

It really is pot luck where to go, weather wise. We once had our caravan roof completely ruined in a hail storm - nothing we could do about it, and it was very frightening to be inside the 'van at the time. It cost the insurance company £1,800 to replace the roof!

I feel very sorry for anybody affected by this lates incident.

 

[ValA.]

Hi Keith - no we're back - on Monday! However, our original planned holiday would have included this week, so it's very likely we'd have been along the Ceze somewhere as we wanted to canoe there. We had to bring our holiday forward, for personal reasons, which meant our site on the Ceze didn't accept Camping Cheques whilst we were away, so we stayed elsewhere.

I generally try to have a look at the on-line Midi Libre (the local paper we always buy whilst away to 'improve' our French - unfortunately my spoken French isn't keeping up with my 'reading' French) when we get home, to keep up to date with any news stories we've read whilst away, and this was front page headlines this morning. I expect Midi Libre will have more details tomorrow.

We were very lucky with the weather, in fact, so I'm glad our holiday was brought forward. As you say, you do take pot-luck and there are some very unusual weather patterns around at the moment - though France has always been subject to flash flooding in that region.

 

[KeithJ]

I believe the Loire region is similar regarding flooding. We were once on a site (can't remember which) where the toilet and shower block was on top of a large mound, and the electric hook-up sockets were 10 feet up lamp posts - an aluminium ladder was provided for when you plugged in or unplugged!! When I spoke to the lady in reception she showed me a pencil mark above the door in her office, and explained that that was where the water rose to the year before. Then she showed me photos of the area looking like a lake! Hopefully this usually happens in the winter, when the site is closed.

 

[ValA.]

When we first visited L'Ardechois at Vallon, we asked why the reception, shop, and pool were all up about four feet above the ground level of the site, and flooding was given as the reason! I've not seen hook-up points on lamp-posts, though - that's a real first! What would Elf and Safety have to say about that, I wonder! Every new arrival would have to have 'ladder training'!