French President Emmanuel Macron visited Pas-de-Calais on November 14, a department partly devastated by floods. The president announced the classification in a state of natural disaster of more than 200 municipalities. He also promised a “ support fund » of 50 million euros to the communities of the department.
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While it continues to rain in the north of France, Emmanuel Macron made the trip and met the victims in Blendecques Pas-de-Calais). He announced the classification in a state of natural disaster of 214 municipalities in Pas-de-Calais and around thirty in the North: “ Our solidarity, our support will be reflected this afternoon in the classification of all the municipalities which have requested it as a natural disaster. “.
Emmanuel Macron also released a support fund for local authorities of 50 million euros to cover the first expenses before a possible reassessment of the amount allocated. In the town of Blendecques, the water, which reached up to 1 meter, went down, but around fifty residents still spent the night from Monday to Tuesday in a gymnasium, which accommodated up to 700 people.
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A mother of eight children, seven of whom were placed in foster families, spoke of her last days, her fear, her fatigue, her nightmares: “ I lost all the furniture in my home, I lost my child’s toys, my child’s clothes, I lost his travel cot », she listed while thanking the Red Cross, present daily and the firefighters, who evacuated her by boat from her home, now full of mud.
According to Jean-Christophe Castelain, deputy mayor of Blendecques, 32 streets and 862 houses were affected by bad weather in the town, which suffered, like all of Pas-de-Calais, the Ciaran storm on November 2, floods record on November 7 and intense precipitation last Thursday and Friday: “ Nothing good is announced for the coming days, many residents are at the end of their rope “.
Read alsoFloods in the north of France: victims fear a new flood
The agricultural disaster system will also be deployed to “support and compensate” farmers who have seen their crops destroyed by bad weather, Emmanuel Macron also promised.