A nice Christmas gift (if it arrives on time…) for the victims of the Republic. Monday September 23 in the morning, a storm of incredible violence hit the Cannes boulevard and its surroundings, with 52 mm of precipitation in around twenty minutes, in an apocalypse setting.
Once passed, the wave left behind a disfigured landscape and a series of impressive damages, particularly for traders. Who, until recently, spoke of the difficult return to normal [notre édition du 5 décembre]mainly awaiting compensation subject to recognition of the state of natural disaster.
Recognition which is slow in arriving, causing the exasperation of the said traders (some of whom have still not reopened) and of David Lisnard, criticizing the slowness of the procedures: “This recognition should have already taken place, a long time ago,” he growled at the beginning of December.
Red Cross dental office opens January 10
It looks like the wait will end very soon. This is, in any case, what the mayor announced this Thursday evening at a municipal meeting. “I was in contact with the minister [démissionnaire] from the Interior [Bruno Retailleau] a few days ago: we are still waiting for the decree, but it is certain, we will obtain the declaration of natural disaster for the storm of September 23.”
A relief, after two months of having “multiplied the steps. It was a struggle, we took a long time to obtain the report from Météo France, which attests to what we were saying, to an observed reality”, concludes the councilor, saluting the work of the services “to plead [une cause] which was, at the start, badly screwed up.”
Also affected by the bad weather on September 23, the Red Cross dental office (inaugurated a few weeks earlier) was restored thanks to the work of volunteers – “the City is a partner” – and should, finally, welcome the public from January 10, at 56, boulevard de la République.
Square du Prado becomes “Henry-Dunant”
The Red Cross which was in the spotlight, Thursday in session, since a hundred meters away, the Prado square took the name of Henry-Dunant. Born on May 8, 1828 in Geneva, he was a founding member of the International Committee of the Red Cross, and initiator of the first Geneva Convention (1864), the basis of modern international humanitarian law. Work which earned him the first Nobel Peace Prize in 1901.
The opportunity for the mayor to recall the links of the humanitarian organization with Cannes, which hosted, “in 1919 at the nautical circle [l’actuel JW Marriott]the first International Congress of Red Cross Societies.”
Without forgetting the work of the local unit which, with its hundred members and as many volunteers, supports nearly 1,200 people, in food aid, psychological and social assistance, or first aid training.
