Almost all onlookers stop in front of the low exploded breakwater of Langrune-sur-Mer, half an hour from Caen. Thursday, February 13, the structure cracked over ten meters. "Water has found a small breach," explains Mayor Jean-Luc Guingouain. It made the structure work, which ended up breaking. "
No immediate threat to homes, but major damage. The technical services have deposited heavy rocks to protect the broken dyke. “We will soon plug the holes with concrete, before the next high tide scheduled for mid-March. Then, we will consider bigger works, if possible before the summer, ”explains the mayor.
A site worth several thousand euros that communities will share. In the meantime, the elected officials will delve into the departmental archives, to find plans for this dike from the 1930s.
Further east, near Ouistreham, Colleville-Montgomery is at the head of its dune. "It is weakened over about 250 meters," laments the mayor Frédéric Loinard. “We had recharged it in sand after the December 14 gale which had removed five to 10 meters from the dune. This sand left with the Ciara storm (February 9), but it helped limit the damage. A larger project is already planned to strengthen defense against the sea.
The sequence of Ciara, Inès and Dennis in the space of ten days occurred during periods of high tides, with a maximum coefficient of 108. "When there is a conjunction of elements as we had, it is complicated, cowardly, fatalistic, Frédéric Loinard. With the storm, the water rose even higher. What worries me is that this rise will become normal in the coming decades ", because of the rise in sea level.
The dreaded high tides of March
Colleville-Montgomery and Asnelles have one thing in common: “We pray that the weather conditions will be good during the next major tides in March. Gérard Pouchin is deputy mayor of the small town of Bessin, which was flooded on February 11. “It had rained a lot, and La Gronde, which crosses the village, could not run out because of the strong tide. She overflowed. "
This phenomenon, which is not new, can worsen greatly due to the phenomenon of submerged waves. “Fortunately, the sandbag dams held up. It is an effective system. But if the winds are bad, the sea can go up the whole street. ” A hundred houses are threatened.
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On a part of Bessin, the seafront was built on old swamps. Gérard Bouchin, author of books on Asnelles, comments: “Under the Second Empire, we started to build. First light homes, then heavier and permanent over the decades. Today, water is trying to reclaim its rights. "
Normandy and its maritime facade will have to adapt. The Minister of Ecological Transition Élisabeth Borne also went to Gouville-sur-Mer, in the Manche, on February 14, after the collapse of a parking lot for motorhomes. The sea is dangerously gaining ground on the dune and the campsite located just behind.
Élisabeth Borne promised that the State will support local communities. Dikes, dunes, ears of corn (a structure that advances over the sea) or other innovative solutions ... Studies are underway. But it will also be necessary to think of another option in front of this greedy sea: to retreat.
