France experiences 'unprecedented' winter with storms, major floods and record rainfall
February marked the wettest month ever recorded in France since measurements began in 1959, surpassing 1970. For the entire winter, rainfall was 35% above average, making it the eighth-wettest season since records began.
The water first invaded the meadows, and then the roads and the town centers. In Angers (west), the Maine River overflowed its banks; in Saintes (west), the Charente flooded more than 1,000 homes; along the Garonne River, between Tonneins and Cadillac (southwest), the river reclaimed its territory. For weeks, the water levels remained high, receding only slowly due to saturated soil. The winter of 2025-2026 will be remembered as the season when France was relentlessly drenched by rain, battered by storms and disrupted by major floods, according to the report published by Météo-France, the national meteorological service, on Wednesday, March 4.
In the words of Christine Berne, a climatologist at Météo-France, February shifted the season into the "unprecedented." With rainfall totals equivalent to twice the seasonal norm, it became the wettest February ever recorded since measurements began in 1959, surpassing 1970. For the entire winter, rainfall was 35% above average, making it the eighth-wettest season since records began. From Brittany to the Atlantic coast and the Mediterranean rim, it rained more than one day out of two, and in some cases, more than two days out of three. "Rainfall was almost daily from January onward," said Berne, with 40 consecutive days of precipitation – a record.
Cover photo: The Charente floods in Saintes (western France), caused by Storm Nils, February 24, 2026.
