Hérault floods leave 73-year-old woman stranded, found safe near Montpellier

Heavy rain over Montpellier

Violent storms swept the Montpellier area and the Mediterranean coast of the Hérault department during the night of Saturday 14 to Sunday 15 November 2026. Météo-France recorded up to 190 mm of rain at Montpellier-Fréjorgues airport, of which 153 mm fell in three hours and 89 mm in a single hour. BFMTV described the downpour as the equivalent of two months of rain in a few hours, while NOS put the total at roughly two and a half months of normal rainfall. Météo-France lifted its orange rain-flood alert for the Hérault at 4 a.m., and the Gard and Bouches-du-Rhône stayed under orange alert until 6 a.m.

Overall episode, up to190

First three hours153

One hour89

Overall episode, up to

190 mm

First three hours

153 mm

One hour

89 mm

Data from the article text

Roads submerged and drivers trapped

The rain eased around 4:30 a.m., but conditions on the roads kept worsening. The RM66 linking Montpellier to Pérols was completely flooded, and a local weather account on Facebook reported 50 centimetres to one metre of water in places near the airport. Around 5 a.m. several vehicles were submerged and some motorists climbed onto their roofs to wait for help. One driver told BFMTV he had been stuck since 6:30 a.m. near the airport, and another said water had entered his car after he left work around 11:30 p.m. Firefighters carried out 105 safety interventions during the night, mostly for people stuck in their cars or unable to move forward, while an earlier BFMTV report had counted 30 such interventions.

Woman found safe near Montpellier airport

A 73-year-old woman was reported missing in Candillargues, about 20 km east of Montpellier, after her vehicle was swept away by the floodwaters. The Hérault fire service said in a statement:

“We are searching for a 73-year-old woman in the commune of Candillargues, 20 km east of Montpellier, lost in her vehicle.”

After a search involving a drone unit, a water rescue team and the Dragon helicopter, she was found beside a pond near Montpellier airport on the morning of 15 November. She had climbed onto the roof of her car when she heard the helicopter, and she was winched up and taken to hospital for checks, where she was found unhurt.

Earlier floods and warnings

Floods on 22 October killed three people at Lançon-Provence and Istres in the Bouches-du-Rhône, and a Mediterranean episode on 5 November caused flooding in the Montpellier region. The Bouches-du-Rhône prefecture had called for the greatest vigilance on Saturday evening, noting that soils were already saturated after recent rain. On Sunday morning Météo-France said of the wider alert area:

“Elsewhere in the areas under orange alert, the totals were more modest.”

By Sunday morning no significant damage had been reported in the Gard or the Bouches-du-Rhône.