Four new high-power motor pumps will be deployed in Pas-de-Calais to prevent further flooding. The most powerful will be able to evacuate 50,000 liters of water per minute.
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The request was made by the president of the SDIS of Pas-de-Calais last July, the funding has now been released. The firefighters will be able to count on 4 new high-capacity pumps, subsidized by the region, the department and the State. Total cost of the operation: more than 2.6 million euros.
A colossal investment, to allow better evacuation of water at strategic points in the event of new floods, such as those experienced in November 2023 and January 2024. Among the planned locations of installation are the Cuinchy, Calais and Coulogne locks, La Calotterie, Neuville-sous-Montreuil or the Ardres bridge.
During the plenary session of Thursday October 3, 2024, the regional councilors of Hauts-de-France therefore voted for a deliberation allowing part of the pumping equipment requested to be subsidized, a first.
In detail, the region releases 300,000 euros, like the Pas-de-Calais department. The Artois-Picardie Water Agency is subsidizing the purchase to the tune of 520,000 euros. The State completes this, with an allocation of more than 1.3 million euros.
Astronomical sums, because a high-power pump is expensive. “These are very, very big pumps. The most efficient on the market today, assures Florence Bariseau, vice-president of the Hauts-de-France regional council in charge of rurality, proximity, solidarity and water policy. As we cannot prevent the rain from falling, we must retain it as much as possible and when this is not possible, we must be able to evacuate it”.
The two most powerful pumps (Hydrosub 150) will evacuate up to 50,000 liters per minutethe equivalent of 200 bathtubs. A smaller pump (Hydrosub 60) was also chosen to be quickly deployed in inaccessible places.
Illustration of a Hydrosub 150 pump, capable of pumping 50,000 liters of water per minute.
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© Hytrans
For comparison, the mega-pumps urgently installed last January could pump 1,500 liters per second, or 90,000 liters per minute.
The subsidies now released, the objective is to be able to deploy the pumps “as quickly as possible”, indicates the vice-president of the region. The SDIS must now order them, to hope to receive them before winter and possible new floods in Pas-de-Calais.
