FLOODS. 450 students evacuated in the Loire and houses flooded in Ain

Since Monday, October 7 in the evening, an orange vigilance has concerned several departments in the region for the risk of “rain flooding”. Flooded station, houses with their feet in the water, soaked ceilings, after numerous interventions during the night and this morning, emergency services remain on alert.

This Tuesday, October 8, 5 departments are still placed on orange alert for “rain-floods”, including Ain. The Rhône, the Loire and the Ardèche returned to yellow by mid-morning.

The firefighters were very mobilized during the night from Monday to Tuesday and continue to be vigilant, with an alert which should last until the beginning of the afternoon, according to Météo France.

At the end of the morning, the Loire firefighters intervened at the Collège Louis Michel, in Rive-de-Gier in the Loire. Several classes, as well as the gymnasium, were impacted by flooding. Emergency services indicate that 450 students have been evacuated and will have to return to their homes.

In Ain, firefighters carried out sixteen interventions. The most affected sector is that of Côtière, the part bordering the Lyon region. Fourteen other calls were redirected to the highway department.

In Dagneux, town of 4 700 inhabitants, around 6:10 a.m. emergency services intervened on a housing estate for flooding. The water rose to almost a meter in height. “It’s been a year since my partner bought the house, we’ve been doing the work for a year, we had just finished the pétanque court and the swimming pool and we still have to start all over again, we’re depressed, we lost two rabbits “, breathes a resident in the middle of his house, water up to his knees.

During the night, two motorists also had to be rescued on departmental road 26, at Miribel: the road was blocked by water. On the Saint-André-le-Bouchoux side, the firefighters were called around 7:30 a.m.: the fall of a tree caused a traffic accident.

In the Rhône, where the rain continued to fall this Tuesday morning, firefighters carried out around thirty interventions for flooding of premises or leaks in roofs.

In Lyon, on the Cours Gambetta, emergency services intervened in a residential building from 3 a.m. to 6:30 a.m. The cause: water passed through the roof which was under construction, several homes were therefore impacted. For the residents of two apartments, the city had to find a solution: their accommodation is currently not habitable because the ceilings are too impregnated, say the firefighters.

The Crépieux guard, in Rillieux-la-Pape, finds itself with its feet in the water, so it is not served this Tuesday morning. The resumption of traffic is estimated at 10 hours by SNCF services.

Numerous delays and train cancellations are expected in the region, in particular between Valence and Grenoble, Grenoble and Chambéry, as well as Geneva and Lyon.

On the Drôme side, firefighters indicate that they have not had to make any interventions due to bad weather.

On the Ardèche side, emergency services recorded sixteen interventions during the night and morning. HAS Malarce-sur-la-Thines, seven firefighters were mobilized at 4:22 a.m., after an electrical pole caught fire. The cause: the lightning that struck. The spectacular incident did not cause any injuries, but deprived around twenty homes of electricity, according to emergency services.

The emergency services take advantage of this to provide a valuable reminder of the instructions to follow on bad weather alert days:

• in the event of flooding of a road, you have to turn around, driving without knowing the depth of the water is dangerous
• do not travel to alert areas
• to pump water in a cellar, do not put a heat engine inside, you risk carbon monoxide poisoning
• only contact emergency services in an emergency