In Couilly-Pont-aux-Dames, a small town in Seine-et-Marne on the banks of the Grand Morin, a few kilometers from Chessy, residents suffered three floods in the year 2024 alone. are engulfing the cellars, houses and buildings of the small town of 2000 inhabitants.
Storm Kirk last October was one torrential rain too many for many residents, resigned to leaving their village in the face of increasing overflows from the Grand Morin, a capricious watercourse, often described as a “mountain torrent” due to the clayey nature of its hillsides. For years, Jean-Louis Vaudescal, the mayor of the town, has been asking the State to intervene to finance the construction of retention basins and a land deartificialization plan.
Illegal buildings demolished
The increase in natural disasters is pushing local communities to think about the habitability dynamics of their territories. In Esbly, a municipality of which a third of the surface area is located in a flood zone, sandwiched between the Marne and the Grand Morin, the prefecture is leading a policy of combating the numerous illegal constructions which have sprung up at the water's edge. in recent years. In 2023, a historic decision, state services demolished a chalet built in disregard of town planning rules.
For years, the mayor of Couilly-Pont-aux-Dames has been asking the State to intervene to finance the construction of retention basins and a land deartificialization plan.
“Support from town planning services on the water aspect would be relevant to stopping projects which can increase the risk of flooding. The objective is not to put a territory under cover but to adapt the project to the terrain and not the other way around. In the design of projects, water is often looked at last,” points out Philippe de Vestele, mayor of Montdauphin and president of the Joint Water Development and Management Union (Smage) of Deux Morin.
Risk areas that are still buildable
To reduce residents' exposure to devastating climatic hazards, Smage must collaborate, sometimes with difficulty, with state services to develop the flood risk prevention plan. “This plan dates from 2006 for the downstream and 2010 for the upstream and only covers the main rivers (Grand Morin) and not the tributaries which participate in the direct increase in the capacity of the Grand Morin”, comments Philippe again. from Vestele. In other words, many risk areas remain buildable. “We cannot make up for 20 years of delay in one year,” adds the elected official.
B. C.
