the rain in spain south-west france....

More than a month's rain in a few hours is combining with melted heavy snowfalls in the Pyrenees mountains rushing down the local major river - the Adour, that flows west through central Aquitaine.

Yesterday's rain was recorded as 95 mm/3.75ins in Les Landes, 124 mm/4.9 ins at Cauteret, and 70 mm/2.75 ins at Pau.

30.1.2014 Update: One of the two main towns in Les Landes, Dax, which is situated on the Adour, is now only accessible by one road from the north.
The small town whose riverside is in the photographs below now has duckboarding in the main square, and customers to the nearby bar are paddling to the counter in their rubber boots. The river level went up by 7 cm during last night.

Landes town flooded, by night 2014

In the south of Les Landes, there are 53 main roads cut off by nearby rivers flooding.
It's been raining for at least a week, and it's still raining!

Here are some of the results:

The Adour valley in January 2014. Close-up of point indicated by arrow is shown below. (The rows to the bottom left are a vineyard.)

The Adour valley in January 2012 Close-up of point indicated by arrow is shown just below.

The roads are flooded! This point is marked by the orange arrow in the photo above.

Flooded riverside track, 26 January 2014

Flooded riverside track, 25 January 2014

The same riverside track, December 2013

The local Uccello forest under water

The hunt by night/in the forest by Paolo Uchello, c.1470 Ashmolean Museum, Oxford [65 x 165 cm]