Floods Strike the Haute-Pyrénées

The Tour usually goes over the Col du Tourmalet in mid-July, but the Tourmalet was omitted from this year's TDF.  It's a good thing because flooding in southwest France has tragically claimed at least two lives and put a large part of the city of Lourdes underwater.  The Haute-Pyrénées experienced an unusually large snowfall this year.  The Col du Tourmalet opened in early May last year (although it closed temporarily in mid-May).  This year the eastern approach opened on June 9.  The area had lots of rain on top of a large snowpack.   Several long sections of the road on the western approach are now gone due to flooding.  I will get a first hand look at the area end of the month.  The photos below tell everything.  Check http://www.velopeloton.com/articles.html for the latest updates.