It is a question of evacuating a deposit of approximately 1,500 shells of the First World War. The 550 inhabitants of Levergies, in the Aisne, will be evacuated from their homes during the day, throughout the duration of this operation scheduled from Tuesday to Friday.
This evacuation “as well as the stopping of all commercial and traffic activity” should allow “the neutralization and movement of shells by the demining services to the destruction site”, announced the prefecture, in a press release.
About fifteen deminers
A security perimeter of 800 meters around the shell depot, of some 28 tons, will be entirely evacuated, “the inhabitants of the town will therefore have to leave their homes before 8:30 am” and will be able to return to their homes “after 4:30 pm”, he said. -she specified.
The operation should mobilize “more than 100 staff of the State and local communities”, according to the prefecture, including about fifteen deminers, according to the mayor of the town, Bernard Nuttens.
“About ten years ago, already 16 tons of shells” had been evacuated from the town, “but they were a little scattered, there they are stacked like cigarettes, if an explode, everything explodes”, a- he explained to AFP.
Installation of wind turbines
These “German shells, buried up to five meters deep” were “discovered in a field located 300 meters as the crow flies from the center of the village during pyrotechnic excavations to dig an access path to future wind turbines, ”said the city councilor. They must be sent for “destruction to the Sissonne military camp”, 80 km away.
A dozen residents without an accommodation solution will be accommodated during the day in a nearby nursing home, while the 98 pupils of the village primary school will be accommodated in a college in the locality near Fresnoy-le-Grand, specified Prefecture.