The city of Montpellier, France, just received a record-shattering amount of rainfall in one day. Between 2 and 5 p.m. on Sept. 29, the city recorded a shocking 252 mm, or about 10 inches, of rain - nearly half the amount it usually gets in an entire year.
The city was wracked with slow-moving thunderstorms and flooding on Monday and Tuesday of this week, and conditions became so bad that France's official weather agency issued a "red alert" for the region. French media reported that 4,000 people were displaced from their homes by the flooding.
This video shows the surging river Lez, which eventually overflowed its banks and contributed to the city's flooding.
iFabricius/Youtube
And this one shows flooding in the streets, you can see the water is around knee height:
Pittoul B/Youtube
French citizens and media outlets took to social media to record the devastation:
Des #inondations spectaculaires à #Montpellier (Vidéos et photos) http://t.co/TLpOBeZElV https://t.co/rHDCdNTbgX
- Paul Taquet (@au_taquet) September 29, 2014
Devant le bar Le Ranch #Montpellier #inondations pic.twitter.com/UTbkOhU56B
- Lengadoc-Info (@Lengadoc_Info) September 29, 2014
Il y a des jours où sortir du boulot s'avère plus compliqué que prévu... #Inondations à #Montpellier pic.twitter.com/BJpT6OW0Ew
- Samuel Sauvage (@samuelsauvage) September 29, 2014
Conditions were expected to improve by the end of the week as the storms rolled out of the region.