red alert lifted, beginning of decline observed but rain expected in the evening

2023-11-12 09:07:47

In Pas-de-Calais, still flooded but where the beginning of a decline was observed on Saturday, the red alert for flood risks was lifted on Sunday, November 12, at 6 a.m. After forty-eight hours of calm, further rain is expected in the evening. “At first low intensity (5 to 10 millimeters expected Sunday afternoon)”the precipitations “will gradually intensify (15 to 20 millimeters expected on Monday) and become more significant during the day on Tuesday (30 millimeters expected locally in the Liane, Aa and Canche basins)”warned the Pas-de-Calais prefecture in a report on Saturday evening.

The return of bad weather is feared by the population, at the end of their nerves, who have already suffered from storm Ciaran on November 2, record floods on Tuesday and intense rains on Thursday and Friday. “Psychological support is in place”announced the president of the Red Cross in Pas-de-Calais, Fabienne Berquier. “The residents are tired. » According to the senator and vice-president of the regional council, Franck Dhersin, 10,000 victims have already been identified.

There have been four minor injuries since Monday in the department, according to the prefecture. A sixty-year-old also died in Bailleul (North) at the wheel of her car, found full of water on Saturday in a flooded ditch, an accident “probably linked to the fact that the road was flooded, that she did not see the route clearly”, according to the Dunkirk public prosecutor’s office. But he is not ” Not possible “ to establish a link with certainty “before the physical examination”.

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Around 250 municipalities have been or are still affected by flooding, sometimes in dramatic conditions, particularly around Saint-Omer, Boulogne and Montreuil, according to the prefecture. The Aa returned to orange vigilance on Sunday at 6 a.m. according to Météo-France, after the Canche, marking the end of the red flood vigilance in the department, while the Liane appears in yellow. This lull, “scheduled until Sunday afternoon” a permis d’“observe a decline”notes the monitoring body.

A decision regarding the expected state of natural disaster

But the water, still abundant, continues to affect farms, trap vehicles and has forced many residents to leave their homes. Several evacuations were carried out during the night from Friday to Saturday, notably in Blendecques, particularly affected by the floods, and Wavran-sur-l’Aa. In La Calotterie, in Montreuillois, civil security and firefighters continued on Saturday to evacuate local residents who had until now escaped the floods, noted a journalist from Agence France-Presse.

Part of the Montreuil citadel, dating from the 16th century, collapsed on Friday, as did a section of the path to Cap Blanc-Nez, a cliff located between Wissant and Escalles, on Saturday. According to the prefecture, 800 homes were without electricity on Saturday evening and “5,000 customers are cut off from mobile telephony”. Five very large capacity pumps, each capable of emptying an Olympic swimming pool in fifteen minutes, were deployed to try to limit flooding.

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Rail traffic is interrupted on two sections (Boulogne-Etaples and Saint-Pol-Etaples) until Tuesday ” in the morning “, specified the SNCF. A total of seventy-three roads remained cut Saturday evening. The civil protection of Pas-de-Calais has launched a call for donations and set up a number (03-74-20-03-07) “to link” disaster victims needing help clearing their homes with those ready to help them. More than fifty municipalities have submitted a file to be recognized as a natural disaster, a decision expected on Tuesday.

Although they constitute natural phenomena, floods, cyclones and droughts can be amplified by global warming generated by human activities. Floods are particularly costly disasters: between 1970 and 2019, they accounted for 44% of all disasters and 31% of economic losses.

The World with AFP