Storm Louis: one dead, tens of thousands of homes deprived of electricity… the damage of the depression this Thursday

Les inondations à Courcoury et la crue de la Charente le 17 décembre 2023. (illustration) MAXPPP – Anne Lacaud

This Thursday, February 22, 2024, storm Louis crosses France, and causes a lot of damage in its path. At the end of the day, it's time to take stock.

Bad weather has increased throughout France since the start of 2024. As the end of February approaches, France is seeing the passage of storm Louis, where violent winds, floods, rains, floods devastated the country. But this meteorological episode is not without consequences.

A death

In the middle of the day, this Thursday, a 52-year-old man died in Deux-Sèvres. The fiftieth-year-old's vehicle found itself submerged in the Le Chambon river, near Saint-Georges-de-Noisné. "L' motorist entered a lane which was blocked to traffic", indicated the sub-prefect of Parthenay, Lucas Turgis, quoted by our colleagues from France Blue.

He had "taken the bridge which spans the river, before&# 39;be swept away", said the firefighters. It was therefore a fatal traffic accident, said the sub-prefect. Despite the intervention of emergency services, the man could not be saved.

90,000 homes without electricity

But bad weather causes other problems, particularly on the electricity network. This Thursday, at 6:30 p.m., Enedis took stock of the homes impacted by storm Louis, which are depriving them of electricity: no less than 90,000 families are affected, reports France Info.

More precisely, there are almost 20,000 in the Grand-Est, a little more than 20,000 in the northern part of the country (Normandy, Eure, Orne…), or even almost 5 000 homes are affected by this electrical problem in New Aquitaine.

In the Centre-Val de Loire region, 30,000 families are deprived of electricity shortly before the start of the evening, our colleagues specify.

27 departments on orange alert

As the weekend approaches, the weather doesn't seem to be heading for better days. According to the 4 p.m. bulletin, this Thursday, 27 departments are placed on orange alert for floods and violent winds due to storm Louis, alert Vigi Météo France.

Almost all, i.e. 26 departments, are affected by violent winds. "Storm LOUIS is circulating in the Channel then the North Sea. In its wake, heavy rains accompanied by violent gusts occur over a large northern half of the country, more particularly in the departments placed on orange alert. These violent gusts also occur at the foot of the Pyrenees", explains the meteorological station.