Floods hit the town of Salies-de-Béarn this Thursday morning. The municipality has triggered its municipal protection plan because of the rising waters of the Saleys. Two primary schoolsthe Notre-Dame de l’Alliance private school and the La Fontaine public school, were evacuated as a precautionary measure. Access to several streets in the city center is prohibited. Firefighters have already carried out around thirty interventions in Salies-de-Béarn in recent hours.
“It rained a lot last night, really downpours. The rain last night totally saturated the surroundings and the Saleys is extremely high. It threatens to overflow in certain placesexplains Mauryne Salvat, the president of the Salies traders’ association. We already have areas in the city center that are flooded because it comes up through the sewers. The entire Bayaà square is already under water. The traders have started to reassemble their belongings as much as possible, but they already have damage. I went to the salt museum, it’s very limited.”
The president of the Salies-de-Béarn traders’ association hopes “that with the tide going down, that the Saleys will flow faster, but we are very worried about the next tide, because if it continues to rain, it could very well rise again tonight.” The town of Salies-de-Béarn had already suffered major floods in 2018.
Catalan flower
“Stay away from waterways”
The Pyrénées-Atlantiques prefecture indicates this Thursday that rivers overflowed in Salies-de-Béarn, but also in Puyoô and Ramous. It asks you to avoid areas and not to take a submerged road, even partially. The prefecture calls on residents of the department to exercise extreme caution and asks them to stay away from waterways.
Météo-France has placed the Pyrénées Atlantiques department on orange alert for rain-flooding this Thursday. Heavy rainfall accumulations were forecast. The Gave de Pau and that of Oloron are on yellow alert.
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