“Since Saturday, 40 mm of rain has fallen. We expect 40 mm more by the end of the night from Tuesday to Wednesday,” explained the prefect of Pas-de-Calais on Tuesday, while the department remains placed on red rain-flood alert by Météo France. These new “intense” precipitations come barely two months after the floods in November in the same area.
This Wednesday morning, ten rivers are on flood alert in Hauts-de-France, and the Aa river, in Pas-de-Calais, is in red. And the short-term outlook is not encouraging. “The rain this Wednesday will support the levels, and could lead to a resumption of their rise, for a height of between 2.40 m and 2.80 m in the second part of the day”, warns Vigicrues regarding Aa. For the rivers in orange, if it is not planned to raise the alert level at this stage, the rains expected during the day should first slow down the decline and then restart a rising process. Depending on the sector, between 20 and 50 mm of rain are forecast for Wednesday. In the prefecture’s 11-hour report, we note that “more than 50 municipalities are currently impacted by rising water levels”.
Roads cut and evacuations
Still in Pas-de-Calais, many roads are currently underwater. The prefecture counted nine at the start of the morning, including national road 42, cut at several points. “Several secondary and municipal roads are also flooded and impassable in Audomarois, Montreuillois, Boulonnais and Calaisis,” warns the prefecture. The complete list is regularly updated on the page Department Facebook.
Faced with this new crisis, the General Directorate of Civil Security (DGSCGC) announced the sending of reinforcements from other departments. “A detachment from the Civil Security Instruction and Intervention Unit No. 1, from Nogent-le-Rotrou, was engaged [mardi soir] for the benefit of Pas-de-Calais, following the floods,” the DGSCGC said in a press release. Julien Marion, the director general of Civil Security, also announced the sending of 120 firefighters to support local teams.
According to AFP, in Blendecques, near Saint-Omer, in Pas-de-Calais, around twenty people spent the night in an accommodation center and around forty were still there this Wednesday morning, indicated the Red Cross. The organization also plans to move its accommodation center to a sports hall during the day, in order to be able to accommodate up to 100 disaster victims. According to Voice of the North, 27 people were also evacuated to Bourthes, between Saint-Omer and Boulogne-sur-Mer. Since the start of the vigilance episode, 198 evacuations have been carried out, including 48 for the night from Tuesday to Wednesday alone. Also note the power cuts for nearly 1,500 customers and water consumption restrictions for 2,100 residents in the municipalities of Rebreuve-Ranchicourt, Hermin, Caucourt and Gauchin-Legal.