Floods, Hérault, October 2016

In blue, the communes declared for this flood: this blue is not the water. In white, the water detected by radar (Copernicus GFM, Sentinel-1). Hover over a département to read its name. Map: Animalert, from GASPAR (Géorisques), Copernicus EMS, Global Flood Monitoring (© European Union) and IGN ADMIN EXPRESS. Contains modified Copernicus Emergency Management Service information (2026)

144 hectares of water detected by radar (Copernicus GFM, Sentinel-1)
1 protected animal species recorded within reach in the ten years before the flood

Communes declared

Dates per the orders

12 to 14 October 2016

Départements

Hérault

Flood type

wave impact, river flooding, runoff or mudflow

Heaviest rainfall

352 mm

in one day (Hérault, 13 October 2016), CLERMONT L'HERAULT station · per Météo-France

8 October 2016: 0 mm
9 October 2016: 0 mm
10 October 2016: 0 mm
11 October 2016: 0 mm
12 October 2016: 53.5 mm
13 October 2016: 352 mm
14 October 2016: 5.5 mm
15 October 2016: 0 mm
16 October 2016: 0 mm

405.5 mm from 11 to 13 Oct, up to the wettest day

The flood's dates

Peak discharge

697 m³/s

L'Orb à Béziers, Béziers, pont neuf, on 14 October 2016 · per Hub'Eau

Extent

water detected by radar (Copernicus GFM, Sentinel-1)

144 ha

Protected species recorded within reach

Observations recorded in the ten years before the flood, some known only to within a few kilometres, up to 10 km, when their published position is blurred or given by grid square. They tell which species were reported there, not what became of each animal.

1 species recorded within reach
1 protected animal species among them

1 Birds

In the water's path

Establishments registered today within reach of the flood, at their declared address or at the point Géorisques gives. They were not necessarily there on the day of the flood, and the dataset does not say whether they were flooded. An ICPE-classified farm can also be in the SIRENE register: these counts do not add up.

No ICPE-classified livestock farm located within the flood's reach
Géorisques · ICPE
No livestock business in the SIRENE register based within the flood's reach
SIRENE register · Insee
No veterinary practice based within the flood's reach
SIRENE register · Insee
No animal protection association based within the flood's reach
National register of associations
No wildlife association based within the flood's reach
National register of associations

A wildlife association is an association whose declared purpose in the national register of associations is the preservation of wildlife: the register does not say whether it runs an authorised care centre. Associations are counted at their declared address: an association or a care centre based outside the area can work across all of it.

The declared communes

33 communes declared a natural disaster (flood) for this flood, département by département.

HéraultSee the 33 communes

Aumelas, Aumes, Balaruc-les-Bains, Bessan, Béziers, Canet, Castelnau-de-Guers, Cazouls-lès-Béziers, Ceyras, Clermont-l'Hérault, Combaillaux, Cournonterral, Fabrègues, Fontès, Lamalou-les-Bains, Lattes, Lézignan-la-Cèbe, Loupian, Mèze, Montady, Montpellier, Nébian, Nézignan-l'Évêque, Pézenas, Pinet, Pomérols, Poussan, Roquebrun, Saint-Gervais-sur-Mare, Saint-Thibéry, Vailhan, Valros, Villeveyrac

This flood's data

In every file of the dataset, this flood carries the identifier EV-20161013-20161014-34. Its dates were frozen when the identifier was created and differ here from the flood's.

The full dataset is released on 13 October at 6:00 (Paris time). Until then, we send it on request: presse@animalert.app.

Ask for the datasetpublic on 13 October at 6:00

Recognised and listed

Public on data.gouv.fr on 13 October at 6:00
A project labelled by the French StateNational Resilience Day 2026 (Journée nationale de la résilience)
Registered with GBIFDerived dataset, DOI 10.15468/dd.ta4vkx