the decline begins, Eure-et-Loir and Seine-et-Marne still on red alert

The decline begins this Friday, October 11 in Eure-et-Loir and Seine-et-Marne, two departments still placed on red flood alert by Météo-France, even if peaks are still expected locally early in the afternoon. noon.

“The rivers return to their beds” in Eure-et-Loir, with a “gradual return to normal”indicated Friday morning in Bonneval the prefect of the department, where almost half of the municipalities were affected by flooding, in the wake of the Kirk depression.

“The recession continues this morning in Seine-et-Marne, even if areas remain flooded”details the prefecture in a situation update at 9:50 a.m. Crécy-la-Chapelle, in particular, is still right on the water.

The thresholds for the 2016 flood were reached or exceeded on the Grand Morin, a tributary of the Marne, which burst its banks yesterday. However, flood peaks are still expected in both departments throughout the afternoon.

“At Condé-Ste-Libiaire (near the confluence with the Marne), the flood peak is expected around noon”according to the same source, who told AFP that “Couilly-Pont-aux-Dames, it will be in the afternoon. »

In Eure-et-Loir, “the point of vigilance, of attention today, is the Loir upstream, between the commune of Bonneval and the commune of Cloyes-sur-le-Loir”Or “the flood peak has not yet been reached”detailed prefect Hervé Jonathan at the start of the morning. In Châteaudun, where houses are already underwater, the flood peak should be reached around 2 p.m., and the authorities expect a record surpassing the flood of January 1961, when the river reached 2.07 m.

The firefighters carried out “840 interventions and sheltered 230 people”in Eure-et-Loir.

“Never seen that”

“The oldest, the services which have memory, the mayors tell me that we have not seen this for 60 years or 40 years”explained the prefect of Eure-et-Loir. “Of the 365 municipalities in the department, nearly 40% have been affected, more or less unevenly”. “It is both the intensity and the size of the floods that were indeed an element of surprise”he continues.

Three departments were still on orange alert for floods on Friday morning: Loir-et-Cher, Sarthe and Aisne. In Haute-Saône, a mini-tornado swept through the town of Cubry-lès-Faverney for a few minutes early Thursday evening, damaging the roofs of eight houses and a shed according to firefighters, without causing any injuries.

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The electricity distribution network manager Enedis, for its part, indicated that there were still 9,000 customers without power on Friday morning, particularly in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques (5,200) and Doubs (1,500).

“The crisis will not end with the return of the river to its bed”warned the prefect of Eure-et-Loir. “Everyone will have to play their role, insurers will have to be there, but also state services”he continues.

At the end of the wettest month of September in 25 years, the average annual precipitation totals have already been exceeded almost everywhere in mainland France.