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A major flood · 2018

Floods, Somme and 7 other départements, May 2018

SommePas-de-CalaisNordOiseAisneSeine-MaritimeSeine-et-MarneEure
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)

  • 2,839 hectares of water detected by radar (Copernicus GFM, Sentinel-1)

  • 68 protected animal species recorded within reach in the ten years before the flood

  • 1 animal species threatened on the national Red List, protected or not

    birds: by their population in the flood's season
Communes declared
139
Dates per the orders
22 to 31 May 2018
Départements
Somme, Pas-de-Calais, Nord, Oise, Aisne and 3 other départements
Flood type
river flooding, runoff or mudflow
Heaviest rainfall
78 mm
in one day (Nord, 24 May 2018), SAINT-AMAND station · per Météo-France
  1. 19 May 2018: 0 mm
  2. 20 May 2018: 0.5 mm
  3. 21 May 2018: 0 mm
  4. 22 May 2018: 62.3 mm
  5. 23 May 2018: 26.5 mm
  6. 24 May 2018: 78 mm
  7. 25 May 2018: 0.7 mm
  8. 26 May 2018: 0 mm
  9. 27 May 2018: 1 mm

166.8 mm from 22 to 24 May, up to the wettest day

The flood's dates

Peak discharge
8 m³/s
L'Aunelle à Rombies-et-Marchipont, on 29 May 2018 · provisional Hub'Eau value, it can be revised
Extent
water detected by radar (Copernicus GFM, Sentinel-1)
2,839 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.

  • 515 species recorded within reach

  • 68 protected animal species among them

  • 1 animal species threatened on the national Red List, protected or not (vulnerable, endangered or critically endangered)

  • 64 Birds

  • 2 Mammals, bats included

  • 1 Reptiles

  • 1 Amphibians

For birds, the category is the one of their population at the flood's season (breeding, wintering or passage birds): a bird with no dated record within reach in that season in the GBIF data has none, and the breeding category needs at least two dated records in June or July. In the migration season (March, August to October), a bird that neither the passage list nor the wintering list assesses takes its breeding category only if it was recorded at least twice within reach in June or July. The list used is named under each species.

The most notable protected animal species

Species with at least three observations (for a bird, three in the months that give it its category, and no bird without a record at the flood's season), the most threatened first, then the most recorded. An observation is a published record: it can count one or several animals, and the same animal can be noted several times. When their published position is imprecise, blurred or given by grid square, they are said to be "within reach or nearby".

Birds

The observations cover every season: a migrant bird recorded there may have been away on the day of the flood.

Photos: Wikimedia Commons, each under its own licence (CC BY, CC BY-SA, CC0, public domain). Credit for each photo

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

  • 1 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

The one livestock business in the SIRENE register: 1 cattle, sheep, goat or pig farm.

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.

Protected areas within reach

Area of each site within reach of the flood, and the share of the site it represents. Natura 2000 and regulatory protection first, then the ZNIEFF.

A ZNIEFF is a wildlife inventory, with no regulatory protection.

The declared communes

139 communes declared a natural disaster (flood) for this flood, région by région, then département by département.

This flood's data

In every file of the dataset, this flood carries the identifier EV-20180528-20180528-80-02064. 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

  • data.gouv.fr

    Public on data.gouv.fr on 13 October at 6:00

  • Face aux risques, agissons. Bien préparés, bien protégés.

    A project labelled by the French StateNational Resilience Day 2026 (Journée nationale de la résilience)

  • GBIF

    Registered with GBIFDerived dataset, DOI 10.15468/dd.ta4vkx