up to 1.60 m of water in the streets

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Like a bad dream. This Monday, October 14, in the streets of Saint-Germain-sur-Morin, one might believe in a return to normal. The water which had invaded five streets of the town has gone. But as the time of realization begins, the consequences of this historic flood of the Grand Morin are not about to be forgotten.

From Sunday, pumping operations, carried out by firefighters, were able to start. The decline had begun the day before. But there was a lot to be done to relieve the city of all the water that had accumulated there. “In some places, we had up to 1.60 meters of water”notes Julien Gaillard, deputy mayor in charge of security.

A fully submerged underground car park

Only an underground car park was still under water on Monday. In a private residence located at the corner of rue de Paris and rue des Voyeux, he found himself completely submerged, as well as the ten cars and the two motorcycles who were there. In all, 3,000 m3 of water have infiltrated.

Firefighter divers were there to check that no owner had tried to come and recover their vehicle.

Pumping began on Sunday, but firefighters stopped overnight. At a rate of 400 m³ pumped per hour, the time required to remove all the water was estimated at 11 hours.

A historic flood

Friday morning, after a night of crisis during which 70 people were evacuatedthe elected official did not hide his concern. Specialists then announced that the flood peak had still not been reached. However, the city was already 20 cm above the historic flood of 2016.

And in fact, the water continued to rise until Saturday. “The decline only started in the middle of the day. At the start, we were only at 1 cm per hour,” explains Julien Gaillard. A slow decline while the water rose very quickly during the night from Thursday to Friday, at a rate of 4 cm per hour. In the end, the Grand Morin will have reached 3.84 meters at the Couilly-Pont-aux-Dames debimetric station. “We finished 25 cm above 2016”he adds. In total, between 40 to 45 homes were affected by this record flood.

The next step

Finally, on Sunday, thanks to the recession and the intervention of the firefighters, some of the residents were able to return to their homes and begin a very sad state of affairs. Five large skips were installed near the most affected streets to allow affected residents to get rid of objects that the water had rendered unusable. “First of all, check with your insurance company, because you will need to provide proof of the damage: take dated photos of everything you throw away,” informs the municipality.

The elected officials also toured all the homes concerned in order to distribute to them a document concerning the request for recognition of natural disaster. The town hall hopes to be able to send its file as quickly as possible, before Thursday. To enable rapid compensation for impacted communities, residents and activities, the Ministry of the Interior has launched an accelerated procedure. “The time for realizations begins”breathes Julien Gaillard.

Good news, the school and the leisure center, closed on Thursday because they were surrounded by water, were able to reopen this Monday. “We must thank the young firefighters of the town who came to help clean up,” underlines the security assistant.

Dealing with the emergency

If on Tuesday, the announcement of the department’s move to orange alert then to red alert the next day suggests a difficult situation, no one in Saint-Germain-sur-Morin thought they would be dealing with such a flood. “We didn’t expect it”Marylène, 69, told us on Friday. During the night, this resident of rue Mondet was evacuated. Leaving without thinking, without even her glasses, she found herself in her dressing gown, in the middle of the night, at the town hall.

“We didn’t want to take any risks. It can be dangerous in relation to electricity or even just for access. We didn’t want to have people who find themselves isolated in inaccessible streets,” explains Julien Gaillard. During the night from Thursday to Friday, two people stuck in bungalows near the Grand Morin saw themselves die. When they woke up in the middle of the night, water was coming in through the windows. Fortunately, the firefighters were able to intervene in time to pull them out.

A very useful municipal safeguard plan

After this major crisis, Julien Gaillard is pleased with the way the town hall managed the events.

Our municipal protection plan, which was activated by the mayor on Wednesday, can be improved, that’s for sure. But everyone played their role, we were able to count on our 20 people from the municipal reserve, there was always someone at the town hall to respond to the residents… I think we did well.

Hoping that the city does not have to apply the lessons of this historic flood too quickly.

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