Floods are becoming more and more frequent in Bouches-du-Rhône, causing flooding. To protect the most exposed residents, the metropolis and the department presented the Inond’Action system on the banks of the Huveaune.
On this sunny October day, we cannot imagine that the inhabitants of this house located on the banks of the Huveaune live in fear every time it rains. Like during the last rains last September when the river was at the level of the wall of the house.
Video of a house on the banks of the Huveaune, September 4, 2024
There are 200 high-risk homes like these on the banks of the Huveaune alone. In total, the Aix-Marseille Metropolis area contains 138,000 inhabitants in risk areas.
Martine Vassal: “individuals will only have 10% to pay”
This is why the department and the metropolis want to offer all these people the possibility of protecting themselves against rising water levels. The proof with the Inond’Action program presented by Martine Vassal and the organization EPAGE HUcA, specialist in flood protection. The program will diagnose the 200 houses along the river free of charge to determine the necessary measures on a case-by-case basis. As for the installation, the State finances 50% of the operation, the department 30% and the metropolis 10%. The individual will therefore be responsible for 10%.
The main measure of the system is the anti-flood barriers which prevent water from entering up to a height of one meter. But depending on the case, the devices can be adapted with non-return valves on the wastewater network, the creation of a refuge zone, if the rise is really too great, raising the electrical systems, securing trash cans, tanks and cars, and the materialization of swimming pools to avoid bad falls.
Estelle Fleury, director of EPAGE HUcA: “reduce the risk of flooding by 90%”
This system would reduce the risk linked to rising water levels by 90 or even 95%. Only major floods like that of 2021 will cause major damage.
