A rain of calamities. The farmers of the Aisne, Marne, Oise and Ardennes deplore “heavy losses” following “exceptional” bad weather in these four departments, always vigilant in raw orange. In recent days, the Hauts-de-France and Grand-Est regions have been confronted with severe bad weather (rains, violent thunderstorms, hail) which have resulted in floods and floods and severely affected agricultural crops.
In the Marne, where rainfall of 150 to 300 mm was recorded, “crops were totally destroyed like peas or lentils, devastated”, declared Christophe Songy, general manager of the FDSEA of Marne, which deplores “heavy losses”. “Pastures have become unusable, and the animals have to go back to stables. Some areas have trouble mowing, the combines are stuck, ”he added.
The city of Soissons expects a peak in the Aisne
In the Ardennes, 45 municipalities have requested recognition of the state of natural disaster, the prefecture said on Wednesday. In the Aisne, “the provisional assessment is established at 50,000 hectares impacted or 10% of the agricultural area of the department”, according to a press release published by the Young Farmers (JA), the Union of Agricultural Unions (USAA) and the Chamber of Agriculture.
On site Tuesday, the Minister of Agriculture Julien denormandie Confirmed the opening of a government crisis unit, citing “a very strong impact” and “operators incredibly affected”.
The town of Soissons expects a peak flood of the Aisne with an estimated height of 5.34 m overnight from Wednesday to Thursday, “an atypical flood for the season which could be comparable to that of December 1993. According to the municipality.