” How are you ? As after a third flood in a week,” responded, on October 19, Jean-Marie Gelé, the mayor (without label) of Saint-Chéron. That day, several residents of the Essonne department once again woke up with their feet in the water. In mid-October, this outer ring territory was experiencing significant flooding.
This December 24, the State has just recognized the state of natural disaster for fifteen municipalities in Essonne* affected by floods and mudslides caused by intense precipitation and water-saturated soil, which occurred between the 16th and October 20 last.
“The recognized damage results from the abnormal intensity of precipitation combined with a state of water saturation of the soil, which favored runoff and overflowing of watercourses,” explains the prefecture of Essonne.
Eighteen other municipalities waiting
Residents of the 15 municipalities concerned now have a period of thirty days, from December 24, to declare their claims and send their insurance company an estimate of their losses, in order to benefit from the compensation provided for in under the natural disaster regime.
In Essonne, eighteen other municipalities have requested to be recognized as being in a state of natural disaster. The files “are postponed, due to additional elements to be gathered, and will be re-examined during a subsequent commission, indicates the prefecture without mentioning the names of these cities. It is therefore not, at this stage, a refusal to recognize the state of natural disaster but a simple delay in the decision. »
This ministerial decree is in addition to that published on October 23 in the Official Journal of the French Republic. In total, 71 municipalities in the department, affected during the first rainy episode which occurred between October 8 and 13, were affected by recognition of the state of natural disaster.
* Bièvres, Brétigny-sur-Orge, Breuillet, Briis-sous-Forges, Forges-les-Bains, Gif-sur-Yvette, Gometz-le-Châtel, Limours, Les Molières, Saint-Chéron, Saint-Maurice-Montcouronne, Sermaise, Les Ulis, Le Val-Saint-Germain, Vaugrigneuse.