“We were predicted to be sunny today, and look, it’s still raining. » Busy checking the water level on the banks of Vilaine, this technician from the Rennes Métropole sanitation service pulls his hood over his head while the clouds pass. “We check, we check. For now, everything is fine but it’s just. We’re waiting for the flood to recede, we can’t do anything else,” explains the man in the orange vest. When will she arrive? Not immediately, as further precipitation is forecast on Friday, before drier weather this weekend. “We will know more on Monday,” predicts the agent.
For several days, the Breton capital has suffered torrential rains which have caused its rivers to swell. In Ille-et-Vilaine, the Vilaine and the Seiche were placed on orange alert on Wednesday evening. The reason? “Significant precipitation fell on already saturated soils,” indicates the prefecture.
A hotel and a clinic evacuated
With the level rising sharply, the rivers could not help but overflow almost everywhere. “We had to set up advanced command posts in the Guichen and Châteaugiron sectors because there were quite a few interventions,” explain the Ille-et-Vilaine firefighters. A hotel was evacuated in Châteaubourg. According to West Francea clinic in Bruz also evacuated its patients suffering from psychiatric disorders.
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-Emergency services had to carry out 70 interventions in less than twenty-four hours, often for flooded cellars or garages. “Three quarters of the year, it is inert, it does not move. It’s always impressive to see it agitated like that,” comment Jeanne and Roland while watching the overflowing watercourse.
This retired couple from Rennes lives in a building wedged between avenue Sergent-Maginot and la Vilaine. They see the river every day from their window. So when it rains a lot, they find out about the risk of flooding. “It doesn’t stress us out but we watch. It is very high at the moment, but that has nothing to do with the flood of 1974. It was that year that I met my husband,” Jeanne remembers.
It was half a century ago and the water had devoured Rennes, causing colossal damage. Since then, the Breton capital has been able to protect itself, in particular by building dikes and flood expansion zones. Fifty years later, she keeps a close eye on her waterways.
Several sectors concerned in Brittany and Normandy
Ille-et-Vilaine is not the only department affected by the current risk of flooding. According to the Vigicrues website, “significant floods are currently observed in Normandy, Brittany and the Center West”. The site specifies that “damaging levels could be observed on watercourses placed on orange alert”.
