Many more French communes recognised as ‘natural disaster’ zones

A total of 202 more communes in France have been officially recognised as areas of natural disaster (catastrophe naturelle), including in the departments of Dordogne and Gironde, as a result of increasingly extreme weather.

Communes across the country that have recently been affected by phenomena including flooding and drought are among those to have been formally recognised by the state in a Journal Officiel decree of April 3, published on April 14.

Receiving official recognition of the state of natural disaster (état de catastrophe naturelle, sometimes also informally known as ‘CatNat’) is important, as it unlocks access to certain insurance clauses. 

Policyholders living in recognised communes who wish to claim under these clauses then have 30 days (one month) to do so, from the date of decree publication. This means the deadline is May 14.

The decree states that it relates to damage caused by “impact from waves, floods and mudslides, flooding caused by rising groundwater levels, ground movements, earthquakes, cyclonic winds, and differential ground movements resulting from drought and soil rehydration”.

Communes included

The decree lists every commune (202 in total in Annexe I; Annexe II includes communes that are not covered) covered by the new CatNat state, organised in a table at the bottom of the page, listed by department. 

Click the link to search by commune on the official decree page, either using the search bar at the top of the page, or by holding CTRL+F on your keyboard when on the page, and typing the commune name there.

There are communes listed in the departments of:

• Allier

• Alpes-Maritimes

• Ardèche

• Ardennes

• Aveyron

• Charente

• Charente-Maritime

• Cher

• Corrèze

• Dordogne

• Eure-et-Loir

• Finistère

• Gers

• Gironde

• Hérault

• Ille-et-Vilaine

• Indre

• Indre-et-Loire

• Loir-et-Cher

• Loire

• Loire-Atlantique

• Lot-et-Garonne

• Manche

• Haute-Marne

• Nord

• Oise

• Orne

• Pas-de-Calais

• Pyrénées-Atlantiques

• Pyrénées-Orientales

• Deux-Sèvres

• Somme

• Var

• Vendée

• Vienne

• Val-d'Oise

Each commune in the table also has a sentence or two explaining why it has been included in the list.

For example, new communes to receive the official recognition include 20 in the Nord (Hauts-de-France), after ground movement in 2025 caused damage. 

This happened as a result of repeated episodes of drought, followed by heavy rain. This led to the ‘shrinkage-expansion (retrait-gonflement)’ phenomenon that can cause severe structural problems.

If you believe that your commune should be included in the official decree but has not been, you can contact your mairie for further information.