The water is still rising. The heavy rainfall this Monday morning in Pas-de-Calais once again placed the department on orange rain flood alert. Cumulative amounts of 15 to 30 mm over 24 hours have been recorded, according to the Pas-de-Calais prefecture, implying a resumption of flooding in certain sectors.
During the day, “the activity of the firefighters was more sustained”, reports the departmental authority. And no less than 34 interventions (pumping, securing, clearing, reconnaissance) and 12 evacuations were still carried out. We are far from the 3,000 interventions and 1,500 carried out since the start of the flood episodes on November 6.
More homes evacuated
The interventions mainly focused on the Etaples and Montreuil-sur-Mer sectors where six homes had to be evacuated in the village of La-Madeleine-sous-Montreuil. Around Boulogne-sur-Mer, the level of the Liane river has also risen. And in Calais and Ardres, significant flooding was noted.
“Almost all schools have resumed teaching normally. Only 6 establishments will still see their operations disrupted until Tuesday, underlines the prefecture. New, more scattered showers are expected tomorrow, although the accumulations should be less severe than today. »
No less than 262 municipalities in Pas-de-Calais have been affected by flooding since the start of the episode. In some municipalities, water is still present, even if its level has dropped.
Dutch pumps as reinforcement
Four Dutch pumps with a flow rate of 5,000 m³/h (i.e. a power of approximately three more than the 42 pumps currently in service) will be deployed very quickly to intensify pumping, specifies the Hauts-de-France prefecture, in a statement. Two pumps have already arrived in Mardyck this Monday and should be operational on Tuesday. Two additional pumps will be installed this beginning of the week in Calais and in the port of Dunkirk.
“These pumps are installed at strategic locations in the territory to accelerate the decline in flooded sectors but also at the outlets of watercourses, namely Calais and Mardyck, to reject excess water towards the sea and allow generally reduce the water level in the Aa delta,” specifies the prefecture.