Clean-up operations at Lourdes grotto after flooding on Saturday 7th September, 2024. Photo: Lourdes website
© Lourdes websiteClean-up operations at Lourdes grotto after flooding on Saturday 7th September, 2024.
The Roman Catholic shrine at Lourdes in the Hautes-Pyrénées region reopened to the public on Saturday after flooding earlier in the day caused it to close, the sanctuary said on its website.

"Thanks to the mobilisation of the teams of the Notre-Dame de Lourdes Sanctuary, the grotto was able to be cleaned and reopened to pilgrims," the Catholic shrine visited by millions of pilgrims each year said on its website.

The cave was flooded at around 2am, according to David Torchala, the sanctuary's communications director.

Celebrations have resumed at the usual times "in all the Sanctuary's basilicas and places of worship, starting with the 6pm rosary at the Grotto." the sanctuary added on its website.

The below video shows the situation on Saturday.


However, the Chapels of Light, which also flooded overnight on Friday, are set to reopen on Sunday.

And the baths will reopen in a few days' time as "water infiltration in the pools requires a complete clean-up and a check of the facilities".

There was an orange alert for rain and flooding in the Hautes-Pyrénées region, but there is now only a yellow rain warning in a few areas of the region, according to Météo-France.

"The flood peaks were reached on the rivers of the department in the middle of the day (Saturday) and the level has returned to normal," the prefecture of the Hautes-Pyrénées said at the end of Saturday, reporting two injuries.

And of the 500 people who were without electricity during the night, 400 were still affected by the outage on Saturday evening.