A thousand years of existence reduced to dust in seconds. This Thursday morning, around 7:30 a.m., a tower of the church in the small village of Saramonin the Gers, suddenly collapsed, causing no injuries. It had been “a few days” since the Saint-Victor tower, adjoining the church of this village of 800 inhabitants and which dated from the 11th century, “showed signs of fragility”, indicated a spokesperson for the Fire Department. and emergency services in the Gers (Sdis 32). The firefighters are busy this Thursday morning to extract statues and paintings from the church, and to check the solidity of the walls adjoining the tower.
The mayor of the town, Eric Balducci, had reported cracks at the end of February and reinforcement work was planned on the buttresses of the tower.
“Cracks all over the village”
“The drought certainly played a role, the expert will tell. We have filed a request for recognition of natural disaster under the drought of 2022, we have cracks all over the village, especially in the old houses, “said the city councilor this Thursday to AFP.
Only material damage was noted on roofs and parked cars.