The state of natural disaster concerning the regions affected by the floods of recent days will be declared "
by Friday
", assured Wednesday the Minister of the Interior, Gerald Darmanin, in front of the National Assembly.
Read also: Floods: on the move in Marmande, Castex wants the state of natural disaster to be declared quickly
Asked by the deputy of Charente-Maritime Jean-Philippe Ardouin (LRM), a department particularly affected since last weekend, the Minister of the Interior assured that the affected territories "
will be able to have as quickly as possible the aid necessary for reconstruction
".
Several departments of Nouvelle Aquitaine have been affected for several days by significant flooding, including the Landes, Lot-et-Garonne, Gironde, Charente and Charente-Maritime.
In the city of Saintes, in particular, the river Charente reached a peak of 6.20 m, the highest level for almost 30 years, before starting to decline since Tuesday.
These levels confirm a new "
historic
"
flood
which exceeds that of 2007 (5.64 m), but without reaching the records of 1982 (6.84 m) and 1994 (6.67 m), a year marked by a boat visit. of President François Mitterrand in Saintes.
In total, in Charente-Maritime, the emergency services had carried out on Tuesday more than 600 interventions related to the meteorological event "
Justine
" and the consecutive floods of the last days, according to the controller general Pascal Leprince, director of the SDIS of Charente-Maritime.
More than 400 people were evacuated by firefighters, but a total of “
800 to 900 people
” left their homes including those who had made their own arrangements, according to Pascal Leprince.
