On the flood front, the situation is now particularly worrying in Burgundy. Three departments are on red alert for floods this Tuesday, after a sudden rise in water which, in places, reached exceptional levels, forcing the authorities to increase calls for caution.
The Armançon river, which crosses Yonne and Côte-d’Or, began to overflow on Monday, leading to evacuations, road cuts and raising fears of extensive material damage in the two departments. At the same time, “a major flood” on the Arroux river, in Saône-et-Loire, forced Météo-France to push this department into the red on Monday evening.
Streets disappear under water
In Côte-d’Or, “there were around a hundred interventions by firefighters (…) and around a hundred people were sheltered” at the end of the Easter weekend, indicated prefect Franck Robine on France Bleu Bourgogne. In Montbard, a town of 5,000 inhabitants, certain streets have disappeared under the waves. The water there rose to 4.09 meters, a level unequaled since the 3.87 meters recorded in May 2013, before beginning to recede, according to the Vigicrues website.
The flood wave is now moving downstream of the Armançon river, towards the Yonne, where “exceptional overflows” are expected, particularly in Tronchoy, a town of around 120 inhabitants, according to Vigicrues.
Towards Auxerre, the Serein river basin is also on orange alert, with a flood wave which should reach the town of Chablis, famous for its wine, “at the end of the day Tuesday”, reported the Yonne prefecture . School transport will be affected, by being either suspended or diverted. Nearly 300 homes are already affected by preventive power cuts, which could be extended depending on how the situation evolves.
Indre-et-Loire goes back down to orange
If the decline of the Armançon has begun in Côte d’Or, the department is not out of the woods: the waters continue to rise in the sector of the Ouche river, a tributary of the Saône which borders Dijon. “The flood forecasting service predicts levels of up to 3 to 3.2 meters at the Plombières-lès-Dijon station until the beginning of the night from Tuesday to Wednesday”, according to the prefecture which has set up a cell of crisis.
Indre-et-Loire, on red alert since Saturday, returned to orange on Monday afternoon. Across the department, 562 people were evacuated over the weekend. All were called to return home. “It now remains to assess the damage,” indicated sub-prefect Guillaume Saint-Cricq. “We were surprised by the intensity of the phenomenon. We did not expect that. (…) It happened very quickly,” he admitted, welcoming “the strong resilience of the inhabitants” who “are used to living with the river and the rivers”.