IHe asked himself the question of the relevance of his intervention, before hearing the usual laments from local residents about dog droppings and abandoned trash cans. He even apologized in advance to elected officials and residents. And then he started.
A week after the disaster which struck Spain (217 deaths according to the provisional toll as of November 6), Alain Breysse, president of the Genette neighborhood committee, gave a personal testimony, both frightening and moving during the public meeting, Tuesday November 5. During a usual stay with their daughter, an emergency doctor in Valence, the Rochelais and his wife experienced “the brutal and incredible floods”, the chronology of which he reconstructed.
“The vast majority of deaths are people drowned in their cars. The windows don't open without electricity, nor do the doors because of the water pressure. »
“Tuesday morning [29 octobre]at 7 a.m., a weather forecast announced a red alert, with significant risks of flooding. Then the wind and rain quickly increased. The rivers overflowed from the beginning of the afternoon. But it was only in the evening, at 8:13 p.m. – which explains the anger of the residents – that our phones received an SMS accompanied by a siren, saying to avoid all travel throughout the province. »
“The trap has closed”
The experience lived by Alain Breysse is not without interest in a city affected by several storms, one of which, Xynthia in 2010, submerged certain sectors. “Unfortunately, this alert came too late,” he believes. We can also consider that it had the opposite effect to its objective: many people, upon receiving this message, either at home or in a shopping center, thought of their car. They rushed to shelter them. The trap closed, the rapid rise in water flooded the underground car parks. The vast majority of deaths are people drowned in their cars. The windows don't open without electricity, nor do the doors because of the water pressure. »
The nightmare scenario notably occurred in the vast parking lot with 5,100 spaces in the Alfafar commercial area, south of Valencia.
The president of the neighborhood committee, who knows Spain well, explains that the Turia river, although it spared the city of Valencia, was diverted in the 1960s after deadly floods in 1957, which caused 97 deaths. However, agricultural land has been urbanized, which climate change now exposes to dramatic floods.
“In emotion and especially not in criticism”, Alain Breysse believes that “clear and anticipated information of the population would have undoubtedly limited the consequences in terms of loss of human lives”. It thus highlights the municipal information document on major risks (DICRIM), distributed by the La Rochelle urban community to residents of municipalities at risk.
The version updated in 2024, available in town halls and on the Internet, lists the “reflexes to adopt” in the event of natural, industrial, health risks or attacks. It is also possible to register for the remote alert system to receive information and instructions in the event of an event.
