200 tourists evacuated in Pégomas due to downpours
On the night of 20–21 August 2026, severe thunderstorms struck the western part of the Alpes-Maritimes department. Prefect Jean-Marie Zhirye ordered the evacuation of the Les Mimosas campsite in Pégomas, located in the red zone of the flood risk prevention plan (PPRI): more than 200 holidaymakers spent the night in municipal premises and returned safely to the site on Friday morning.
Thunderstorm without warning
Already on Thursday daytime Météo-France issued an orange-level warning for Alpes-Maritimes and the Var department due to thunderstorms, and by the evening added a yellow “rain–flood” level. The main impact of the weather system occurred between 4 and 6 a.m. on Friday. The most precipitation fell in Lavence (78.5 mm), Tende (73.4 mm) and Coursegoules (65.7 mm) — for late August this is a lot, according to France 3 Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur.
Lightning struck trees twice — in Mougins and in Castellar — and once hit a power line in the La Bocca district of Cannes. At the peak of the storm around 26,000 households in the region were left without electricity; some of them, already in the neighbouring Var department, were still without power on Friday morning. This is not the first episode of extreme weather on the coast this summer — in early August the region already experienced a heatwave of up to 40°C with thunderstorms.
Evacuation of the Les Mimosas campsite
Camping Les Mimosas in Pégomas stands by a riverbed that in normal times looks harmless, but fills quickly with this amount of rainfall. That is why its grounds are classified in the red zone of the PPRI — where flooding is considered most likely. When the water level began to rise, the prefecture ordered people to be moved out without waiting for the worst-case scenario. Pégomas is a few minutes’ drive from Grasse, the largest town in the arrondissement.
Pégomas is led by mayor Florence Simon, elected in March 2026. The evacuation was carried out in an organised manner and without incident: more than 200 people, including families with children, were accommodated overnight in municipal halls where they were provided with food, water and medical assistance if required. No injuries were reported.
Campsites at risk
The Les Mimosas incident is not an isolated case, but a consequence of where campsites on the Côte d’Azur are located: many sites have historically been set up in the beds of small rivers that most of the year look like harmless streams. The PPRI exists precisely to mark such areas red in advance and avoid waiting for a flood to catch holidaymakers by surprise.
The summer of 2026 in the Alpes-Maritimes has already been extreme: in June and July the region reached the orange level several times due to anomalous heat, and now the same is happening with thunderstorms. Tourists booking a campsite in southern France at the height of the season should check with the administration in advance whether the site falls within the red or blue zone of the PPRI, and monitor Météo-France warnings for their travel dates.
What is happening now
By 10 a.m. on Friday Météo-France lowered the alert level for Alpes-Maritimes and Var from orange to yellow. Campers at Les Mimosas have already been allowed back into the campsite, but the material damage to the site is yet to be assessed. Local authorities continue to ask people to be cautious near waterways and on mountain roads, where rockfalls and landslides can occur in such weather.
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Photo: Helena Jankovičová Kováčová / Pexels