Oh my goodness this is awful. I know Villegailhenc well as I drive through it to get to Carcassonne.
How is it where you are Vanessa @Essexness ? Are you OK? I know you are close to Carcassonne. Stay safe.
Oh thank you for asking Mandy. It’s really kind of you to think of us. Literally torrents of rain last night but touch wood we seem fine. I expected to look over the balcony and see the kitchen swimming in water and the courtyard like a swimming pool but aside from a bit of a damp garage were ok. Our neighbour across the road had leaks all over her house and water is also bubbling up through the tiles in her living room. Roads around us to nearby villages are closed - don’t know if it’s from flooding, trees down or landslides and all the schools around are closed. Local river is very swollen & trees lining its banks have been swept away . We are very lucky as it runs along the back of this side of the village about 150 metres from our house but it is in a cutting below the level of the surrounding fields. Logging around here has exposed the soil and the fear is that more rain may cause landslides across the road into the village. The nearest town Couiza hasn’t fared too well as it’s the confluence of 3 rivers. All the gardens and allotments bordering the river through the town have been swept away and the river is close to bursting its banks.
My lovely next door neighbour has given us some drinking water as the stuff from the tap is very murky with sediment . We spent about half an hour clearing leaves and soil washed into the gully between her house and mine (there’s an unoccupied house between us) so that the water can get into the drains as our houses are literally “on the road”. Compared to many we have been very fortunate.
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Horrible news, just watched on French tv and they say its now 13 dead and 5 seriously injured. The images were awful. I do hope that all our fellow members who live in that area are safe.
Well done to the rescue services too, at the moment they are still trying to go door to door to make sure no one is trapped. 
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Glad to hear you are OK… and that you and the neighbours are supporting one another… 
Hope the weather turns soon…
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Thank you Stella. It all happened so suddenly. We’ve had little to no rain except s couple of overnight showers since we arrived in September and before that it was apparently scorchio. The weather warning seemed to literally change in minutes from nothing to yellow then through to red. Roads and bridges swept away in Carcassone & even the Canal du Midi has burst its banks . We went to a grange sale in Conques sur Orbeil yesterday in beautiful 26C sunshine. Today I read it’s under water with people being rescued from their roofs.
Oh thank goodness you are relatively OK. Awful for your neighbours though.
We are just over the border and it’s been pretty bad here as well although nothing like as serious as the pictures I’ve seen of Villegailhenc etc.
This is becoming a tragedy.
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How is everyone down there… after yesterday/last night ???
Keep safe and dry… if you can.
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It was me tioned on the Today programme that the French weather forecasting is not up to scratch.
Well, they did forecast what arrived… not sure what more they could do…
There is not a French version of Hurricane Fish… 
The saddest story of this terrible tragedy. I can’t even imagine what this poor lady is going through.
awful…
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Yes I read this earlier in the day, the mayor went to see her to offer what help he could. It’s reported that she said “why is this happening, what have I done to deserve this, have I been bad, please please make it stop now”!
So hard to imagine what she is going through, I must admit that I had tears in my eyes, and not just for her 
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French weather forecasting not up to scratch? I find it to be excellent, perhaps you need to change your source.
We are being told that we will have rain and we are still waiting.
The difference between meteo sites is quite amazing.
Obviously, huge storms can be predicted.
For a very accurate forecast but one that might require more input than the simple ones have a look at www.wetter.de .
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Ha ha… wot wild wetter???
I was introduced to it about 10 years ago by a French yachtswoman and for a while I used it as my primary weather source when planning sailing trips. These days I find the French forecasts very, very accurate.
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