Overview
- Météo‑France maintains orange vigilance on Friday for Pyrénées‑Orientales and Haute‑Corse for rain‑flooding and for Aude for flood risk, with some alerts expected to extend into Saturday.
- Rivers in the Pyrénées‑Orientales are rising with localized inundations in towns such as Estagel and Rivesaltes, and the prefecture projected a crue peak around early afternoon as firefighters handled dozens of interventions and closed fords and several roads.
- Forecasts call for substantial totals across the episode — generally 100 to 150 mm and locally up to 180–200 mm between the Albères and Corbières, and 80 to 120 mm in Haute‑Corse with local peaks near 150 mm — prompting close river surveillance.
- Authorities report reinforced emergency operations, with roughly twenty departments activating the plan grand froid to open extra beds and intensify outreach as the coldest Christmas since 2010 in parts gives way to temperatures staying below seasonal norms into early January.
- The wintry pattern that produced a rare white Christmas in areas including Brittany also brought road treatments and ice hazards, while heavy snow above about 1,500 m in the Canigou raises avalanche concerns.