Météo-France Orange Rain-Flood Alert Corsica Hérault Gard November 5 2026, Digi Mart USA News (southern France): Météo-France has placed four departments in orange rain-flood vigilance as a new Mediterranean weather episode strikes southern France on Thursday, November 5. The alert covers Corsica-du-Sud, Haute-Corse, Hérault and Gard.
In Corsica, the situation is especially worrying around Porto-Vecchio, where heavy rainfall led to evacuations overnight from Wednesday to Thursday. According to the prefecture, 73 people were evacuated and housed in a gymnasium in Porto-Vecchio converted into an emergency shelter.
Firefighters had already secured 20 people on Wednesday, including a motorist rescued after his vehicle was swept away by floodwaters. At least ten homes were flooded in the south of the island, and several roads were cut, notably around Porto-Vecchio, Sotta and Figari.
A FR-Alert emergency message was sent Thursday morning to residents of the Porto-Vecchio and Sari-Solenzara areas warning of flood risks. In Haute-Corse, authorities cancelled school outings and closed access to the popular GR20 hiking trail while recommending people limit travel.
On the mainland, Montpellier and its surroundings also recorded intense rainfall, thunderstorms and significant runoff. Around 80 millimeters fell in the Hérault capital over 24 hours, while Salindres in Gard recorded 111 millimeters.
Localized flooding was reported in several coastal communes, including Frontignan.
Meteorologists warn that rainfall could still exceed 120 millimeters in some sectors of Gard and Hérault during the day. In Corsica, totals could reach 150 to 200 millimeters across much of the exposed areas and locally top 300 millimeters over the highlands.
Conditions are worsened by soils already saturated after October rain episodes, which favors runoff and the rapid rise of watercourses. Météo-France says the episode in eastern Corsica could bring strong thunderstorm bursts until Friday morning, with improvement expected from the west overnight Thursday into Friday.
