1. Skip to content
  2. Skip to main menu
  3. Skip to more DW sites

Southeast France pounded by heavy snow

November 15, 2019

Snow, ice and heavy rain have caused power outages to tens of thousands of homes. Authorities urged people to stay off the roads after a motorist was killed by a falling tree.

https://p.dw.com/p/3T5Dt
Snow on French roads
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/MAXPPP/F. Anterion

Heavy snowstorms wreaked havoc across the southeast of France overnight Thursday.

A 63-year-old driver in the commune of Roche was killed as he tried to remove a fallen tree from the icy roads and another tree fell on him. Another man who was helping him was injured.

Read more: Almost all glaciers in the Alps could disappear by 2100: study

About 300,000 people were left without electricity in the departments of Drome, Isere, Rhone and Ardeche, power company Enedis said.

Rail traffic was expected to be interrupted in and around Grenoble at least until Friday afternoon because of fallen trees on the tracks.

Read more: Venice floods: Italy's Conte declares state of emergency

A snow plow
France issued the first snow warnings of season after wintery weather arrivedImage: picture-alliance/dpa/MAXPPP/F. Anterion

Cars and trucks were left stuck in the snow and many roads were closed across the region. Authorities urged people to avoid the roads.

Up to 20 centimeters (eight inches) of snow at low altitude and up to 30 centimeters above 300 meters (approximately 1,000 feet) are expected to fall before the snowfall is predicted to stop by Friday night, according to France's Meteo weather service.

mm,cw/ng (AFP, dpa)

Every evening at 1830 UTC, DW's editors send out a selection of the day's hard news and quality feature journalism. You can sign up to receive it directly here.