Montpellier, France: 10 Inches Of Rain In Three Hours On September 29th

[hatrack]

This week has been très humide in southern France, where half a year’s worth of rain fell in one day in Montpellier. Slow moving storms brought heavy rainfall to the region on Monday. Between the hours of 2 p.m. and 5 p.m. on Monday, approximately 10 inches of rain fell. By 8 p.m., the total was 11.63 inches, and half of the city’s typical annual rainfall.

Monday’s storms prompted a red warning from Meteo France, meaning that they were expecting hazardous weather of exceptional intensity. Red is the highest level of warning on the meteorology service’s scale.

French media are reporting that no deaths had occurred, but around 4,000 people were displaced from their homes and residing at the train station, colleges, gymnasiums, and even Le Zenith, which is a concert hall in the area.

All of that rainfall caused the River Lez, which runs through the heart of Montpellier, to swell beyond its banks and inundate the city.

EDIT

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/capital-weather-gang/wp/2014/10/01/southern-france-trying-to-dry-out-after-10-inches-of-rain-in-three-hours/

[rurallib]

1. wow

[Mnemosyne]

2. Nothing to see here...nt

[madokie]

3. we got an inch yesterday in about 30 minutes

Wind was a blowing and it looked like sheets of water going sideways, it pissed and poured

[muriel_volestrangler]

4. Another 10 inches yesterday

The second flash flood in nine days struck the southern French city of Montpellier on Monday night, swamping a major soccer stadium with 10 feet of water and leaving cars dangling in trees or on top of other cars.

The flash floods resulted from repeated thunderstorm activity moving over areas just north of the city. According to France's national weather agency, Meteo-France, the storms dumped 262 millimeters (10.32 inches) of rain on the Prades-le-Lez observation site, breaking the all-time rainfall record since the site was established in 1979. Of that amount, 95 millimeters (3.74 inches) fell in just one hour.

According to Yahoo! Sport, the extraordinary rainfall unleashed flash floods that swamped the Stade de la Mosson, home of the city's top-division soccer club, Montpellier HSC.

French newspaper Le Monde said mud covered the entire pitch and reached as high as the fifth row of bleachers. The press box and other parts of the stadium were trashed by the floodwaters, which reached a depth of 3 meters (10 feet).

http://www.weather.com/news/montpellier-stadium-flood-france-football-20141007