Flash floods in Corsica Corte: storm causes unprecedented rise in river

On Thursday, the Mediterranean storm "Charles" hit Corse after passing through the Iberian Peninsula and the mainland coast France. The most tense situation was in the center of the island: in the city of Corte, a large-scale flash flood occurred on the Tavignano river. Between 14:00 and 15:00, the water level jumped by 6 meters - from one to seven meters. Meteorologists reported that this was the highest flood at this station in the entire history of observations. The water also damaged pont de Baliri.

Heavy rains covered a large part of Corsica: the communes of Évisa and Calacuccia received between 100 and 110 mm of precipitation. The storm was accompanied by gale-force winds, reaching speeds of up to 150 km/h in the Cinto mountain range, and gusts of up to 134 km/h were recorded at the Sponde weather station.

Earlier in the day, the weather had hit the Côte d'Azur, with 134mm of rain falling in Cannes and flooding the city centre in Mandelieu, forcing the evacuation of a school and closing roads. However, while the rainfall on the continent had eased by the evening, the threat of further flooding remained over Corsica throughout the night.