Suspended prison sentences of 18 and 24 months were required on Friday April 1 at the trial of two former mayors of Lamalou-les-Bains (Hérault) tried for "
homicides
" and "
involuntary injuries
", eight years after floods which left four dead and eleven injured.
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On the night of September 17 to 18, 2014, a violent flood of the Bitoulet river, a tributary of the Orb, caused the death of a couple as well as a woman and her daughter who were staying at the municipal campsite of this spa town in the southern Cévennes, 35 km north of Béziers.
The water breaking from Mount Espinouse (1124 m) had caused a lot of material and human damage.
Installed in 1982, the municipal campground, which overhangs the river by about three meters, was partly located in a declared flood zone.
It was the breaking of an ice jam, a natural dam, upstream from the campsite, which had caused a wave and suddenly flooded the campsite, carrying away vehicles and caravans, according to experts.
Three alleged “faults”
Marcel Roques, 73, centrist mayor of Lamalou from 1983 to March 2014, had left office six months before the disaster, as he recalled at the start of his trial on Wednesday before the Béziers criminal court.
Three “
faults
” can however be reproached to him, estimated Friday the vice-prosecutor David Durand: “
to have abstained from implementing the security of the campsite
”, “
not to have implemented the conditions of the Communal Safeguard Plan ( PCS) by not cleaning the Bitoulet upstream of the campsite
" and "
having had the campsite downgraded in 1992, when it had been (in a flood zone) since 1982
".
“
For me these are the most serious faults
“, Estimated the representative of the public prosecutor, requesting a two-year suspended prison sentence.
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His successor, Philippe Tailland, 73, the deputy prosecutor notably criticized for not having implemented the security of the campsite, for "
not having given the order to evacuate
" the same evening or even for having "
extended the opening date
" until the fall, a season during which thunderstorms are frequent in this region.
He asked for an 18-month suspended prison sentence against him.
For the deputy prosecutor, the two former elected officials, who rejected responsibility, "
did not register in the long term of the prevention of natural risks
" and "
did not take into account the events of the past, in particular two evacuations from the campsite in 1992 and 1996 for breaking an ice jam
”.
After the defense arguments, the judgment should be reserved at a later date.
