Thunderstorms: nine departments in the Centre-East on orange alert Saturday

Nine departments in the Centre-East have been placed on orange alert for thunderstorms until 6 p.m. Saturday by Météo-France, which added Haute-Loire, Ardèche, and Drôme at 10 a.m. to the six departments already affected. These three departments join Ain, Isère, Allier, Loire, Puy-de-Dôme, and Rhône, which were placed on orange alert by Météo-France since 6 a.m.

"An extension of the orange storm alert to neighboring departments is not excluded," the meteorological service specifies in its 10 a.m. bulletin , which calls for people to remain "informed" of developments in the situation.

The storms will continue "for a good part of the day despite periods of calm" and will be accompanied by "strong rainfall and a risk of hail," the agency warns. Accumulations of rain of 30 mm to 60 mm "in fairly short periods of time (typically in less than three hours)" and "very locally" are expected, the service specifies in its bulletin. "The risk of wind gusts is less marked but present," it adds.

At 8 a.m., the meteorological service lifted the orange alert for the Channel and Calvados, where rainfall totals of 20 mm to 40 mm were recorded overnight.