2023-11-14 13:26:14
French President, Emmanuel Macron, and his wife, Brigitte Macron, participate in a meeting with rescue teams in Clairmarais, northern France, Tuesday, November 14, 2023. AURELIEN MORISSARD / AP
The Head of State arrived late in the morning, Tuesday November 14, in Saint-Omer, in Pas-de-Calais, a department affected for several days by devastating floods, and still on orange alert. “To meet the first expenses” in the affected municipalities, Emmanuel Macron announced that an emergency support fund of 50 million euros for the affected communities has been set up and that “the classification of all the municipalities which have requested it as a natural disaster” will be effective this Wednesday afternoon. This represents 244 municipalities in total, including 214 in Pas-de-Calais and one “thirties” in the north.
Another “exceptional support fund” for farmers, including those in Brittany and Normandy affected by the storms, will also be launched, he said. During this trip, accompanied by his wife, the Minister of Agriculture, Marc Fesneau, the Minister of Ecological Transition, Christophe Béchu, as well as the Minister for SMEs, Olivia Grégoire, Mr. Macron thanked the teams of relief as well as the police and elected officials mobilized “since the floods and Storm Ciaran started”. He also expressed his support for all the victims.
On Monday, Matignon had already announced the convening of an interministerial crisis unit “to coordinate all state services”. According to the senator and vice-president of the regional council, Franck Dhersin, more than ten thousand victims have already been identified. “Many artisans, traders and SMEs are affected”he stressed on Monday.
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Maintaining the two departments on orange vigilance on Tuesday
Pas-de-Calais, which has already suffered storm Ciaran on November 2, record floods on November 7 and intense precipitation on Thursday and Friday, has also been classified as orange rain-flood vigilance since Tuesday. The seven rivers of the department monitored by Vigicrues are on flood orange vigilance, the Liane, the Lys upstream and the Lawe-Clarence having joined, in the Météo-France bulletin at 6 a.m. Tuesday, the Canche, the Lys plain, the Hem and the Aa. With the exception of the Canche, all these rivers started to rise again Monday evening, according to Vigicrues.
In addition to Pas-de-Calais, the neighboring department of Nord is also placed on orange flood alert on Tuesday, as well as six other departments in the rest of the territory: Charente-Maritime, Doubs, Jura, Nord, Vosges and Vendée. Haute-Savoie and Savoie are placed on orange rain-flood vigilance.
In this context, the Pas-de-Calais prefecture decided, as on Monday, to keep nurseries and educational establishments closed on Tuesday in 279 municipalities in the department, or 388 establishments in total. “ They will not provide teachingspecified the prefecture, but students can be welcomed there whenever necessary. »
The floods of recent days have also caused significant damage in the neighboring department of the North, particularly in the Lys plain. “How are they going to get rid of all this? »asked Annie Bacrot, who lives along this river in Merville, on Monday afternoon, and whose garden is entirely underwater. “It’s stressful, we’re afraid of having to leave, we’ve never experienced that”she observed with a sigh.
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