Climatic hazards continue. “Around sixty houses” on the island of Yeu, in Vendée, were damaged by a windy phenomenon, according to the town hall. The department is placed this Thursday, like five others on the west coast, on orange alert due to violent winds linked to the Nelson atmospheric depression.
The first elements available from the Vendée prefecture suggest that the meteorological phenomenon does not seem to have caused major damage. The mayor of the town, Carole Charuau, spoke on radio France Bleu Loire Océan of “roofs torn off, fallen trees and a shattered bay window”.
Houses affected
“Some citizens in difficulty” received support from firefighters and municipal technical services. “A big, intense and very brief gust of wind, my pergola passed over the house and landed on the road, hitting the neighbor's house. Broken slabs and tiles,” testified a resident on the Climat-Vendée Facebook page, run by a “team of meteorology enthusiasts.”
“It happened in a fraction of a second, a deafening noise and a wind of unprecedented violence,” says another resident, according to whom “the roofs of the entire neighborhood need to be redone.” This photo provides an overview of the damage.
💨 Wednesday evening, a virulent wind phenomenon caused damage on the Île d'Yeu in Vendée. Trees were uprooted and thrown. It could be a tornado. (© Château de Bourgon) pic.twitter.com/nbw6bPH3L7
— Météo Express (@MeteoExpress) March 28, 2024
A field investigation will help determine whether a tornado has indeed passed through the scene. Either it is a very strong gust of wind and the trees are then lying in the same direction. Either it is a tornado, so with winds going in opposite directions, and the trees are lying in different directions. The signals left on the radars clearly suggest the possibility that a tornado has occurred.
It is not impossible that the violent wind phenomenon on the island of Yeu is linked to the passage of a tornado, according to the radar. This will require a field study. https://t.co/JKfeHKu7Jl pic.twitter.com/ljeO0AEX1V
— Etienne Farget 🌩️ (@EtienneFargetMC) March 27, 2024
In addition to this most characteristic indicator of a tornado which constitutes the different directions of uprooting of trees, a trace on the ground of a contact, or even of a progression over a certain distance, would make it possible to confirm even more that a tornado is is produced. This meteorological monster traces, as it travels, a path corresponding to the width of the contact zone on the ground.
Around fifty interventions
In total, the Vendée firefighters intervened around fifty times between Wednesday 8 p.m. and midnight, mainly for falling trees and road clearances, but although the wind blew strongly in the department, no other possible tornado occurred. been reported elsewhere than on the island of Yeu.
“Risks of whirlwind phenomena mainly concern Poitou-Charentes” this Thursday, warns Météo-France. In addition to Vendée, Charente-Maritime and Deux-Sèvres are also placed on wind orange vigilance, as are Côtes-d'Armor, Finistère and Loire-Atlantique.
🔶 7 departments in Orange (https://t.co/CSYEovTI83) pic.twitter.com/3jCmljvdkX
— VigiMétéoFrance (@VigiMeteoFrance) March 28, 2024
In these departments, “the expected values are of the order of 120 k/h to 130 km/h near the coasts and 100 km/h or even occasionally 110 km/h inland, under stormy squalls in particular », predicts Météo-France. A gust was measured at 183 km/h at Pointe du Raz, in Finistère, indicates meteorologist Stéven Tual on X (ex-Twitter).