Around fifty people were evacuated on Tuesday January 2 in Pas-de-Calais, once again on red alert for floods, a month and a half after a historic rainy episode.
The Aa, which crosses Saint-Omer, must reach “exceptional levels (…) from the evening »warns Vigicrueswhich classifies the coastal river in red and most of the department’s other watercourses in orange.
The North, Meurthe-et-Moselle and Finistère are also on orange flood alert and floods have occurred in Loire-Atlantique, where around twenty people had to be relocated, according to the prefecture.
“We carried out nearly 50 evacuations today alone”, announced the prefect of Pas-de-Calais, Jacques Billant, during a press point. The department could record “nearly 100 mm of rain” accumulated in six days between last Saturday and Thursday, he added.
Of the “very substantial means, pumping in particular”will be deployed, in particular through “requisitions” in the private sector and aid from other European states, announced the director general of civil security at the Ministry of the Interior, Julien Marion.
The Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, announced on X having given instructions “to strengthen the emergency system” with 120 new firefighters and civil security soldiers. The President of the Republic, Emmanuel Macron, spoke on the telephone with the mayors of Saint-Omer and Blendecques to assure them of his support and that of the State, Agence France-Presse learned from those around him.
“Fear of reliving the same scenario as two months ago”
In Rebecques, a campsite housing around fifty people per year was flooded and seventeen people sheltered in a village hall.
In his forecasts broadcast at 4 p.m., Météo-France has classified Pas-de-Calais on orange alert for rain-flooding from Wednesday at six a.m.
In November, nearly three weeks of flooding in the department caused five minor injuries and significant damage. Thousands of homes were sometimes flooded several times a few days apart, but also farms, shops and businesses.
“Residents are afraid of reliving the same scenario as two months ago”summarizes Philippe Macrel, deputy mayor of Neuville-sous-Montreuil where only one access remained passable by car on Tuesday.
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“I find myself in the same situation as two months ago”notes Thomas Quandalle, a dairy cow breeder in Bréxent-Enocq, near Montreuil-sur-Mer, who for the third time since the beginning of November had to send around fifty animals to other breeders, while water flowed into the his stables.