The rain moved east, and Corsica went red

The morning edition said the night in Gard and Hérault came in under the warning, and argued that a closed bridge is cheap safety. That still stands for those two départements. It does not describe the rest of the day.

What the forecaster said in advance. On Monday Météo-France described the episode as shifting further east on Tuesday². It did exactly that.

What fell. In its 11:30 bulletin, Météo-France moved Haute-Corse to red for rain and flooding, writing that 350 mm had already fallen in six hours and 189 mm in one hour¹. Near Solenzara it reported almost 400 mm since the episode began, including 191 mm in an hour at the airport¹. In the Bouches-du-Rhône it recorded 100–150 mm in 24 hours from Vitrolles to Arles, and 235 mm at Saint-Chamas¹. Gard stayed orange because of the Vidourle and Vistre rivers¹.

The cost. franceinfo reported that a person was found dead in the Bouches-du-Rhône after the night’s rain¹. That is the number that matters most, and it should be read before any other.

Why the system worked anyway. Red is reserved for exceptional intensity. Météo-France raised it when the gauges, not the models, justified it, and said so in figures¹. A warning service that lowers its tone in one place and raises it in another on the same day is not inconsistent. It is reading its instruments.