As expected, the department was affected by a very marked snowfall on Thursday evening in the north and east of Tarn-et-Garonne, the layer reaching 10 centimeters in Montpezat. It hadn’t snowed that much since the winter of 2012-2013. In the next few days, the mercury will drop sharply, down to -10° locally on Monday morning. The prefecture triggers the cold plan and strengthens the accommodation capacities of the homeless.
The weather forecast was right. Placed on orange alert, the department was gradually covered in snow on Thursday evening, starting at 6.30 p.m. In record time, the afternoon rain turned into flakes and the humidity of the ground n It was not enough to prevent this snow from ending up holding, especially on the road network.
The whole department was affected to varying degrees with one centimeter on the roofs of Montauban, three to five centimeters in Castelsarrasin, Moissac, Montech, Valence-d’Agen and in the Pays de Serres, but it is in the north and east of Tarn-et-Garonne that the episode was the most significant, with about ten centimeters raised in Molières, Vazerac, Montpezat-de-Quercy, Caylus and Saint-Antonin-Noble-Val.
Cross sowing in Caylus, motorists trapped in Montpezat
As the bad weather progressed, the county council mobilized around fifty agents and eleven teams to clear the main roads as a priority, in particular the RD 820 in the direction of Lot and the 926 in the direction of Villefranche-de- Rouergue. 170 tons of salt were scattered throughout the department and the agents took turns until 4 am. Patrolmen went into action this Friday from 5 a.m. to intervene in sectors of the network where ice had followed snow.
During the day, the secondary network was also dealt with, operations facilitated by the provision of fine weather. Apart from a few minor losses of control at Castelsarrasin and Montbeton, no accident was observed.
However, in Caylus, several semi-trailers got across the road on the hillside of the village, slowing down the passage of the snowplough. In Montpezat-de-Quercy, motorists were trapped near the coast of Perches and La Madeleine, which required the intervention of firefighters to get them out of a bad situation between 10 p.m. midnight. They were then able to resume their journey.
Between 2009 and 2013, the department experienced four very harsh winters with several snowy episodes. In 2012, it was even necessary to install thaw barriers. In 2013, seven successive snowfalls swept through the department. Since then, the white coat had disappeared from radar, except for a few scattered flakes here and there.
The cold plan triggered by the prefecture
Due to negative temperature readings from Météo-France between -5°C and -10°C at night for the next three days, the cold plan has been triggered at level 1 yellow vigilance in the department by prefectural decree from January 20, 2023, informs the prefecture of Tarn-et-Garonne. As a result, and as provided for in the yellow “extreme cold” level of vigilance, measures have been put in place for vulnerable homeless people:
– opening of a night stopover located at 135 avenue du Cos in Montauban from 8 p.m. to 7:30 a.m. for the reception of 20 to 30 isolated people at the Montauriol Day Center with site management by Emmaüs;
– extension of the opening hours of day centers and emergency accommodation;
– the schedules of the marauding are adjusted and an additional team can be mobilized at midday.
