The French president and the minister of agriculture expected this Tuesday in Pas de Calais. Emmanuel Macron and Marc Fesneau in the north of France at the bedside of affected residents after the floods which hit the region in recent days and caused significant damage. In the affected localities, solidarity matched the disaster.
6 mins
from our special correspondent,
To get to the affected villages, you have to cross rivers that have burst their banks, closed roads and others that are still partially flooded. In the countryside, fields saturated with water in which birds bathe like in a pond, power lines and fallen trees because before the floods there was first the storm. We also meet a lot of firefighters.
“ We hit a tsunami in the face », says Estelle Doutriaux, the mayor of Bourthes, a village of 850 inhabitants. In one month, the equivalent of half of the usual annual precipitation fell here. Elected in 2020, her mandate began with the Covid-19 crisis.
As at the time of the pandemic, she recounts this “ first wave » which fell on his small village, one of the most fragile that had to be quickly evacuated, streets that had to be cleaned while knowing that a second wave was coming. She tells us about these streets transformed into a torrent. “ The firefighters came with their boats, but the current was too strong to navigate. » When we meet her this Monday, November 13 in an annex of the village school transformed into a “headquarters” and crisis center, she barely begins to breathe: “ Today no one is stuck in their house. The waters have receded and everyone can move around and go shopping. But we have people who have lost everything, whose homes have been completely ravaged by water.. »
The solidarity of residents with the victims does not weaken: listen to the report from our special correspondent
The solidarity of the residents, which was expressed from the first hours, does not weaken. Several times a day, volunteers make rounds among the victims, to distribute bottles of water, a hot meal, soup or simply to get news. “ The first night, I felt guilty about sleeping warm in my bed », Explains this volunteer. Help that those concerned have difficulty accepting, judging that there is “ more unhappy than them “. “ People need help but don’t necessarily ask, it’s important to reach out to them to maintain the connection. There are very isolated people », Explains this other resident who came with her daughter.
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Overturned cars
Last night, residents were preparing for further bad weather expected overnight. “ There, the roads are still passable, but it should fall 20 millimeters around 4 a.m. This means that tomorrow morning I will probably no longer be able to stop by to help out. », Explains Sébastien Wallet, pointing to an overturned car on the side of the road. Deputy to the town hall of the neighboring village of Senlecques, spared by the waters, he came to express the solidarity of his commune. He expects some homes to be cut off from the rest of the city again until mid-afternoon Tuesday.
“ The marks you see against the wall are the mark of the rising waters. » The water has receded, but in front of her house, Sophie Pruvost’s eyes are red and her voice trembles as she speaks of ” her house so beautiful », the fireplace she was having installed. On the exterior walls there remains a muddy trail 40 centimeters high, but inside everything is chaos. So this sign of support particularly touches her. “ The inhabitants of the village, of all Pas-de-Calais, the town hall, our bosses: everyone has been united and supports us, it’s phenomenal », she is moved.
“ When you hear cows walking in the water, there is a problem »
A solidarity that is also expressed in the agricultural world. When he woke up last Sunday, Bruno Carlu immediately felt that something was wrong: “ When you turn on the light and hear the cows walking in the water, you tell yourself that there is a problem », says this farmer from Preures, another small village in Pas-de-Calais. His farm is located in the heights, but it has rained so much in recent days that the water tables are overflowing, and he had the unpleasant surprise of discovering a spring in the middle of his stable. “ The cows were up to their hocks in water, their bellies in the water “, he says. The water was so high that it had to be pumped out before being able to access the stressed and frozen animals.
In the shed below, its straw reserves are flooded by another source which flows in torrents into the fields below. The bundles are swimming in the water. In his misfortune, the farmer was able to count on the solidarity of his neighbors. Jean-François Findinier welcomes part of his flock. “ I had just grouped my dairy herd with that of my son who was setting up. I had moved the animals a few days earlier “, he explains. So he has a stable ready, just 700 meters from Bruno Carlu’s flooded farm. “ Even if they are animals we couldn’t leave them like that in… in the shit, it must be said », explains Jean-François Findinier, also local representative of the FDSEA, the main agricultural union. Like the houses of Bourthes, the cows still bear on their sides the muddy mark of rising waters. Several of them triggered mastitis, a disease that causes inflammation of the udders and makes milk unfit for consumption. It will take at least a week to heal them.
“ We know that farmers are often united but we were surprised by the number of calls »
But the time has not yet come to eliminate costs. “ We are not there yet, the urgency was to save the animals », says Marion Vergnier, local facilitator for the FDSEA. “ In total between 400 and 500 animals had to be evacuated “, she says. She held a crisis unit all weekend, listing calls for help from breeders in difficulty. “ Many also called to offer help. We know that farmers are often united, but we were surprised by the number of calls: from farmers, farm workers and even individuals who offer to come and clean the farms “.
This time, the wave has passed, but it will leave indelible traces. The village school, like many others in the region, will still remain closed this Tuesday. From her headquarters, Estelle Doutriaux, the city’s mayor, is already thinking about the psychological consequences of recent weeks. And everyone here looks at the approaching winter with concern.