Since the bad weather in the Alpes-Maritimes, the coast of Saint-Laurent-du-Var near Nice, is unrecognizable.
An impressive sea of waste, mainly wood, tumbled dozens of kilometers from disaster-stricken valleys like that of Vésubie, following the course of the Var river to its mouth in the town.
The thickness of the rubbish, agglomerated like a giant mikado, is such that one can, in places, walk on the Mediterranean, several tens of meters from the beach.
Since Wednesday, 80 agents from the city of Nice and the Nice Côte-d'Azur metropolis, vehicles and personnel from the city of Saint-Laurent-du-Var, reinforced by more than 200 solidarity volunteers, have been deployed to speed up cleaning.
Pieces of house, personal effects (helmets, bath mats, dead animals ...) witnesses of lives damaged or violently washed away by the waves, are found on site.
Danielle, for example, recounts, with a heavy heart, having come to “mourn” the chalet she owned in Saint-Martin-Vésubie and literally swept away during the storm.
The day before, as incredible as it may seem, her son had found a "wooden key" to their home on the beach ...
The operation to clear the seaside will last several more days.
Wood and metals will be recovered and recycled, in particular in furniture.
The residual waste and part of the wood will supply the heating network of the Nice Côte-d'Azur metropolitan area by being incinerated.
