Almost a year after the floods in Pas-de-Calais, where are the victims?

Ten months after the floods which affected the Pas-de-Calais department, where are the victims? More than 6,000 homes were impacted and since these floods, several dozen houses have been bought by the State via the Barnier fund, created in 1995. Victims are trying to turn the page even if there is always the fear of new rains.

“We have a phobia of water”

It’s an almost deserted housing estate: shutters closed, no cars in front of the garages, two or three families still live there, but not for very long. Flooded three times, Christine finally sold her house to the State thanks to the Barnier fund. “It’s the end, we’re going to see the end of the tunnel. For the month of November, I think that a year after the events, we will have our money so we will be safe,” she confides.

This major natural risk prevention fund allows individuals to sell their homes at risk. The unsanitary life is soon over, she adds, because everything at home is still very damp and even moldy. Stéphane, who is also one of those who saw their house bought, fears rehousing. “The unfavorable point will be finding the location because my wife and I have a phobia of water. As soon as it rains, we look at each other and we always believe that it’s our house that is going to be flooded,” he testifies.

A feeling of rain anxiety is very present among the victims who wonder if the hundred million euros of work released by the State will be enough to avoid new floods.