Nature will perhaps reclaim its rights in Saint-Vincent-sur-Jard. The small Goulet river, diverted and enclosed in a concrete corridor which brings it to the beach, could find a wider bed. Thus, at each high tide, the sea would return to the old estuary of the river, rather than attacking the dike and eating away at the dunes, which are receding by one meter per year.
Here, in any case, “long-term strategy” that Mayor Olivier Dalmasso will explain to residents on November 8, at 7 p.m., at the Clemenceau Hall. That's what he calls “a probable large-scale spatial recomposition, with an estuarisation of the Goulet”. A project “not easy to carry politically because it has an impact on real estate, and therefore sometimes on life projects.”
“Below sea level”
The dike which blocks the old estuary protects a group of five houses, on a thin coastal strip located in the town of Longeville. Behind it is Saint-Vincent-sur-Jard. Part of the interior area is below sea level. It has been made unbuildable by the Plan for the prevention of foreseeable coastal risks. This PPRL was carried out six years after storm Xinthia, which caused the deadly flooding of La Faute-sur-Mer in 2010, around twenty kilometers from Saint-Vincent.
How many houses would be affected by the opening of the estuary? “It’s not yet defined,” replies the mayor. It is first necessary to carry out in-depth studies; continue the work initiated with the State and neighboring communities; assess the value of homes… But the course is set. The horizon, “it’s ten, twenty years”, announces the councilor, who reserves the details of his strategy for the meeting with the residents, whom he hopes to convince.
Elected mayor in July 2023, Olivier Dalmasso quickly took stock of the decline in the coastline, linked to climate change. In August, the beach had to be closed at high tide. In the fall, the Cioran and Céline storms prompted the dunes to be replenished. In winter, big-bags of sand lined the Route des Roulettes, to protect the housing estates, just in case. The 53-year-old former soldier and engineer began to think, with colleagues in the sector. Then decided to take the bull by the horns. He explains: “I don’t want my successors to find themselves in the current situation. We must work now for future generations. »
