“It felt like a bit of a beggar, but we finally accepted the idea that we couldn’t do it alone”confides Estelle Marty, director of the station and technical services of Bessans (Savoie), in the Haute-Maurienne valley, about the Leetchi prize pool opened by the municipality at the very end of December.
Twice this year, Bessans has, in fact, suffered destructive floods from the Arc river, a sub-tributary of the Rhône. First in June 2024, two days of ten-year floods which ravaged the ski slopes. Then a second time, at the beginning of September. A thirty-year flood this time, with a flow of 400 cubic meters per second recorded a little further down in the valley, which in a few hours tore away roads, paths, footbridges and bridges, networks of electricity, and… the works redone during the summer in order to be able to fully ensure the coming tourist season.
Total cost of the work for the community: 2 million euros. That is almost the annual operating budget of this small town of 352 inhabitants, with 4,252 tourist beds, according to the Savoie-Mont-Blanc Observatory.
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