The red alert has still not been lifted and the consequences are piling up for the Pas-de-Calais. The Aa basin has been kept on red alert by Vigicrues, while four other rivers remain in orange, unlike the Liane and the Lawe-Clarence, which have switched to yellow. According to the prefecture of the department, 189 municipalities and 2016 homes are still affected by the rising waters.
It was a particularly tough day for the people of Saint-Venant. In this village, about 25 houses were flooded and evacuated. Since the beginning of the episode, 710 evacuations have been carried out in Pas-de-Calais, 59 of them took place on Thursday. The fire brigade intervened 123 more times during the day, one of them suffered a minor injury to his hand. While 2100,500 inhabitants are affected by "restrictions on water use", "<> customers are without electricity", particularly in the Audomarois region.
đź”´ 1 department in Red
🔶 4 departments in Orange (https://t.co/CSYEovUfXB) pic.twitter.com/xatR4l4hZ5
— VigiMétéoFrance (@VigiMeteoFrance) January 4, 2024
To cope, in addition to human reinforcement, the department has set up a pumping system. "The resources made available or requisitioned by the State will make it possible to pump up to 62,340 mÂł/h in the Pas-de-Calais and the Nord," says the prefecture, specifying that the system has already been operational on the Cuinchy site since Thursday afternoon "for 7,100 m3/h".
The appeal of the mayors of France
This second episode of exceptional floods in two months that hits the Pas-de-Calais must lead to a "mobilization at the highest level, between mayors, presidents of intercommunalities and the executive," warned the president of the Association of Mayors of France (AMF), David Lisnard. The LR mayor of Cannes recalls that this disaster comes "at a time when the damage of November has not yet been the subject of a complete expertise".
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With one in four French people and one in three jobs affected by the risk of overflowing rivers, "there is an urgent need to draw the consequences", warns the association, which brings together almost all the municipalities. In particular, the AMF calls for the enhancement of protection systems (ripraps, dikes, etc.) "in certain areas that are no longer able to cope effectively with current weather events".
It also considers that since the creation of the Gemapi competence (management of aquatic environments and flood prevention, editor's note) which transferred responsibility for protection works to the inter-municipalities from 2018, "the State has gradually withdrawn, without guaranteeing the ability of local authorities to finance the necessary works".
The management of some 1,500 km of state dikes is also to be transferred to the intermunicipal authorities from 28 January 2024. However, according to the AMF, "the transfer conditions are not satisfactory and present a risk", due to a lack of "technical and financial means to ensure the burden of the transfer". Finally, the association calls for the establishment of a "permanent consultation mechanism" with all stakeholders.