Storms in the Southwest: rail traffic disrupted for several days

Hailstorms and heavy rain hit the southwest late Monday, May 19, causing local flooding and the interruption of a TGV train, which had to be evacuated in the evening in Lot-et-Garonne, according to the prefecture.

In this department, the bad weather mainly affected the Tonneins area, where a ballast collapse under a railway line caused the interruption of rail traffic on the Bordeaux-Toulouse line. A TGV train was forced to stop on the track in the evening, with its 507 passengers evacuated by bus to a municipal hall in Tonneins.

The rescue operation, which took place between approximately 11:30 p.m. and 1:00 a.m., involved around sixty people (firefighters, police officers, Red Cross volunteers, etc.), according to the Lot-et-Garonne prefecture.

An Intercités train from Toulouse to Paris remained stuck overnight in Agen due to the same incident, according to a journalist on board. Its passengers were due to return by bus to Toulouse on Tuesday morning to catch other trains to Paris.

According to an SNCF spokesperson, train services will remain suspended for "at least several days" between Agen and Marmande, impacting TGV service between Bordeaux and Toulouse. The railway company is expected to provide further details later today.

The severe weather also caused a tree to fall in the center of Toulouse, flooding of secondary roads, and the evacuation of schools. Firefighters carried out hundreds of operations in departments placed on orange alert by Météo France.

In the space of a few hours on Monday evening, cumulative rainfall reached 60 mm in Lavaur (Tarn) and 78 mm in Saint-Felix-Lauragais (Haute-Garonne), before easing during the night.

As of 6:00 a.m. Tuesday morning, all orange alerts had been lifted in the region, according to the latest bulletin from Météo France. Only the Var region, in the southeast, remained at this alert level for rain, flooding and thunderstorms, at least until 12:00 p.m. In this department, on Tuesday morning, thunderstorms could "produce heavy rainfall, from 80 to 120 mm in three hours," Météo France warned in a previous bulletin.