In Rhône-Alpes, snow cuts electricity to a thousand homes – archyde

The snow, which fell heavily on Friday morning December 10 in the Rhône-Alpes region, deprived a thousand homes of electricity, especially in Savoie around the Val d’Arly and Saint-Jean-d’Arves, according to the managing company. Enedis. Some 150 officers have been deployed but face access difficulties due to the large amount of snowfall. Four departments of the region are placed in orange vigilance: Savoie and Haute-Savoie (snow-ice and avalanches), Isère (avalanches) and Ain (snow-ice).

In Haute-Savoie, traffic restrictions have been put in place for heavy goods vehicles in transit to Italy. Ditto in Isère where it was banned in the morning on several axes. The prefecture of Savoie has also warned motorists accessing ski resorts, citing “Particularly difficult traffic conditions”. It is thus expected “50 centimeters of snow at least” above 1,200 m altitude. No bus was circulating in the Chambéry agglomeration.

In the Alps, “Powder snow avalanches are triggered spontaneously, sweeping away the recent snow that has fallen in recent days”, details Météo-France. “Some of these avalanches, large or even very large, can reach exposed roads and mountain infrastructure. In the second part of the afternoon and especially the following night, the frequency of avalanches will tend to decrease, with the gradual decrease in intensity and frequency of snow showers. Aggravating factor: the current very good snow cover from the medium altitude favoring the flow of avalanches ”.

In Ain, the main measure concerns the preventive ban on heavy goods vehicles taking the A40 towards Haute-Savoie, which causes traffic jams at the Pont-d’Ain motorway junction.

Heavy snowfall also caused traffic difficulties in Burgundy-Franche-Comté, in particular in Saône-et-Loire, according to the prefectures. At around 8 a.m., forty vehicles were still blocked on the A38 between Dijon and Pouilly, in Côte-d’Or, according to the region’s prefecture. Traffic was able to resume in the morning, but the “Snow removal operations are still in progress”. The Mâcon prefecture has banned the movement of heavy goods vehicles in the Dijon-Lyon direction on the A39.

Traffic was also delicate in much of the Côte-d’Or, Dijon having woken up under a beautiful blanket of snow. Again, the return to normal was “Considered early in the morning”, depending on the region prefecture.