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Heatwave - UK & Europe
Typhoon - Japan
Hurricane - USA
Wildfires - USA
Floods - France
Earthquake - Iran
Other events
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Catastrophe Report 4
July 8, 2003 - February 20, 2004
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Floods - France
| Territory: |
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France |
| Region: |
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Southern France. Rhone valley - Marseilles
and Lyon areas. Bouches-du-Rhone region. Vacluse, Ardeche, Charlieu,
Avignon, Orange. Herault, Gard, Arles, Ardeche. |
| Date: |
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2 – 8 December , 2003 |
| Event: |
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Floods |
| Impact: |
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Flood water depths of up to a metre and an affected
an area of over 80,000 km2 led to damage to thousands of buildings
and the evacuation of 27,000 people. Road and rail traffic along
the Rhone Valley was severely affected and the town of Arles
was under water as one of the Rhone dykes failed. Marseilles
and Montpelier were also badly affected, with Marseilles declared
a natural disaster zone. Damage also resulted from accompanying
strong winds, gusting up to 150 km/h. Two out of four nuclear
reactors at the Cruas-Meysse power plant (Ardeche) were shut
down to prevent debris carried in floodwaters clogging the cooling
systems. 250,000 people lost their drinking water supply due
to fears of contamination. First estimates of economic losses
are put at 1.5 billion US$, with insured losses set at 1 billion
US$, the fifth largest of 2003. |
| Summary: |
|
Following near-constant rain since October the
level of the Rhone and tributaries rose steadily throughout
the Autumn. A powerful mid-latitude storm brought further torrential
rain to southern France between December 1st and 3rd, with 20cm
of rain in the Rhone Valley and Marseilles areas leading to
the Rhone reaching – at 6.42 m - its highest recorded
level. Flooding occurred along the Rhone itself and its tributaries,
the Herault, Tarn, and Upper Loire rivers. This was the eighth
time the Rhone had flooded in the last 11 years. |
| Data sources: |
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NASA Earth Observatory
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/
Dartmouth Flood Observatory
http://www.dartmouth.edu/~floods/2003282.html |
| Additional sources: |
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SPOT Image
http://www.spotimage.fr/html/_167_240_241_370_.php
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