Monday evening, the Minister of the Interior, Bruno Retailleau, announced the departure of 40 rescuers and around ten territorial firefighters for Spain.
In Haute-Vienne, a chain of solidarity was quickly put in place in the first days following the disaster. A first truck, containing bottles of drinking water, left from Bosmie-l'Aiguille and reached the twin town of Pedralba, northwest of Valence.
€30,000 raised
This Tuesday, the International Emergency Firefighters (PUI), an NGO based in Limoges, took the road to Picanya, after a collection carried out this Sunday in the market of its twin town Panazol in order to bring the collected material. “The firefighters involved are helpless. They have an enormous job of cleaning and clearing the roads to carry out, indicates Colonel Philippe Besson. For now, a team has joined Picanya to bring them the necessary equipment such as gloves and disinfectant products. We also provide them with rescue boats, rangers, helmets and a drone. »
The PUI will also donate the €30,000 collected during the kitty launched by the municipality of Panazol. “We collected a lot of donations during the last collection organized with the PUI,” confides the mayor of Panazol, Fabien Doucet. We will continue to help them in the days to come. »
The prize pool continues at the town hall, while the emergency aid of €20,000, released and voted on during the last municipal council of the commune, is gradually paid to the municipality of Picanya.
Other missions to come
In the coming days, a second PUI team should leave for Montcada, north of Barcelona. “We are going to donate a fire engine to them and bring them a drone to assess the damage. The team that is going to leave will help them clean up like in Picanya,” adds Philippe Besson.
An enormous amount of work awaits the members of the NGO alongside the Spanish rescuers who are helpless by the scale of the damage. According to the latest report drawn up by the authorities, the floods left 223 dead and 78 missing.
Emilie Montalban
