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When the elements are unleashed...
When you move to the Cévennes, to Malbosc or elsewhere, you soon hear about the “Cévennes episodes”.
On Thursday 31/01/2025 and Saturday 08/02/2025, we experienced two of these events, which lasted more than 24 hours. A simple explanation was in order.
Yes, it sounds familiar, but that's all if you've never visited the region before falling in love with it. When you hear about them, you expect to experience a moment, a frightening “T” moment. In reality, it's ‘just’ a big ‘drache’ as we say in Belgium; heavy showers. Except that... These extremely intense storms, sometimes accompanied by violent thunderstorms, dump impressive quantities of water for hours and days on end. The water gushes out in all directions, carrying away everything in its path. If water is life, it also has the power to take it away from you. While the average flow of the Ardèche is between 4 and 13m3/second in summer and 60m3/second over the course of a year, it has been recorded as high as 7,500m3/second at Vallon Pont d'Arc in 1890 and 4,550m3/s in 1958. With water levels that can reach 10m (1976) to 17m (1890) in a few hours, or even faster. With very mountainous terrain, the water rushes down the slopes and rapidly swells the rivers below, creating a funnel effect.
Historically, these episodes occur at the end of the summer, when the hot, humid currents from the Mediterranean rise up and collide with the Cévennes relief. The meeting of these hot and cold airs makes the atmosphere unstable and causes these stormy episodes. Today, with the climate change we are experiencing, extreme rainfall events are becoming more intense and are no longer limited to late summer or autumn, but also intensify in winter and early spring.
A word of advice: if you can arm-wrestle the wind, don't tempt the devil with water; stay dry and warm.
At Malbosc, we are sheltered on the heights and can see the water rushing down the slopes; don't venture into the valley, even with a large 4x4. However, once the fine weather returns, go for a walk and discover the magic, magnificence and enchantment that Mother Nature has to offer us after this bad weather.
