Gironde, last department on orange “flood” vigilance

After torrential rains which fell on the central-east and south-east of France, the time has come for a lull. Only the Gironde department remains placed on orange “flood” vigilance, Saturday October 19, while twenty-five departments are now on yellow vigilance, according to Météo France.

The weather forecasting organization notes, in its 10 a.m. bulletin, a “significant flood during high tides on the Garonne Dordogne confluence” in the “Bordeaux sector”. “The prefect of Gironde calls on everyone to be extremely vigilant”reports a press release from the prefecture, specifying that this orange vigilance concerns “all the municipalities of the Garonne and Dordogne confluence”.

Friday morning, the red “flood” vigilance had been lifted in the last four departments concerned (Rhône, Loire, Haute-Loire and Lozère), while eighteen departments in the southern half remained affected by an orange “flood” vigilance or “rain-flood”.

The A47 motorway is completely reopened in both directions between Saint-Etienne and Lyon, according to Bison futé, in time for vacation departures. The TER line (regional trains) Lyon-Saint-Etienne, the busiest in France, remains, however, cut. A partial resumption of traffic is planned for Monday on the Lyon-Givors axis, but the return to normal could take longer in the most affected area (between Givors and Saint-Etienne).

Natural disaster

In the Center-East, emergency services carried out 2,300 interventions during the bad weather, judged to be the most violent episode in the Cévennes “for forty years”according to the Prime Minister, Michel Barnier.

The rains, which reached 600 to 700 millimeters in certain areas of Ardèche, caused three minor injuries in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes. In Paris, a tree fell on a family, whose father did not survive, without the link with bad weather being formally established.

The Minister of the Economy Antoine Armand announced on Saturday on X that he had asked insurance companies to proceed ” quickly “ compensation for those affected by recent floods in central-eastern France. “I have already mobilized insurers to ensure that compensation is provided quickly”published the tenant of Bercy, sharing his thoughts for the “residents, businesses and communities affected”.

Mr. Armand also confirmed that “recognition of natural disaster” was engaged. The insurer Macif has already announced on Friday a “exceptional assistance system” to help “its members affected by the violent weather” in recent days: extension of the disaster declaration deadline extended to 30 days, support for rehousing for ten nights, psychological support. The insurer counted nearly 6,200 claims related to the bad weather in recent days.

A deputy from Ardèche asks to spare communities from budget cuts

PS parliamentarians from Ardèche and Loire asked the government to spare local authorities, and in particular its department, the most affected by the floods, from “the puncture” envisaged in the 2025 draft budget.

The debates on the budget in the National Assembly regularly evoke a possible « effort » local authorities, which could reach 5 billion euros. According to the MP, the contribution of Ardèche should “around 8 million euros”he wrote in a letter addressed to Mr. Barnier, a copy of which was obtained by Agence France-Presse (AFP). Gold “the damage, impossible to assess at this stage, will amount to several million euros for modest municipalities, since 70% of them have fewer than 1,000 inhabitants”.

These municipalities will therefore turn to the department, which will already have to finance the cost of the important rescue operations carried out by the firefighters, underlines the elected official, president of the Ardèche departmental council from 2012 to 2017. He therefore asks to place the Ardèche in the list of twenty non-contributing departments, which already include Gard and Lozère, two neighboring departments.

On Franceinfo, the MP announced that a “ten mayors” told him that “five or ten years of investment budget in their municipality will not be enough to repair the damage”. “At a time when we will need a lot of money to rebuild”it’s necessary “leave this money [des collectivités] in the crate »he said, regretting that a “exceptional help”which would nevertheless be necessary, “does not exist and [ne soit] not planned ».

Two PS parliamentarians from the Loire followed in the footsteps of the Ardèche elected official. In a letter addressed to the Prime Minister, the deputy Pierrick Courbon and the senator Jean-Claude Tissot ask that he “renounces the contribution (…) of the order of 16 million euros” envisaged on the revenues of the Loire.

The Lyon branch of Greenpeace, for its part, called for a “contribution of oil and gas companies” for repair of damage, taking into account their ” responsibility “ in climate change and “exceptional profits they have recorded in recent years”.