6 years ago, a storm of rare violence flooded the center

Around 4 p.m. on Sunday June 3, 2018, a storm hit the town of Morlaix (Finistère). In three hours, 37 mm of rain fell, compared to an average of 60 mm per month.

Météo France had placed 48 departments on orange vigilance, including Finistère.

Water up to the waist

The sewers are starting to overflow. The mouths jump, while the Queffleuth and the Jarlot begin to get carried away. Flooding is inevitable.

The decision was made to cut off access to the city center and prohibit all traffic there. The same decision is taken on the RN12 expressway, between Saint-Martin and Sainte-Sève.

Rue de Paris, the co-manager of Carrefour Market testifies: “ We had water up to our waists. It goes through the walls on the other side, rue du Palais. It went up in half an hour, we couldn’t do anything. »

One meter of water on the first floor of the viaduct

Charlotte, a teenager, went to watch the scene from the first floor of the viaduct: “Even up there, we had water up to our knees. There must have been a good meter. »

Firefighters in backhoes

Firefighters come to help residents stuck at home… by backhoe loader. It was a homeless person, taking refuge on the kiosk, who alerted them.

Rue de Brest is one of the most affected. Like the Poan-Benn alley, where a car was swept into the river.

On the side of the locks, Christian, a Saint-Martin resident who came to help out in his son’s house, testifies: “It looked like a pond. »

The collapsed SNCF line

In Sainte-Sève, a torrent of water caused the platform to collapse under the rails. A car was also taken.

From Sunday evening, a crisis unit was set up. Agnès Le Brun, then LR (Les Républicains) mayor of Morlaix, expressed her concern: “For the moment, the priority is people and not goods. It keeps rising and we expect a peak at 11 p.m. »

Firefighters intervened nearly 250 times for rescue or clearance and pumping operations.

The day after

The next day, it’s time to take stock and clean up. The mud from businesses and housing on the ground floor must be removed.

The city center is reopened to traffic. But Mayor Agnès Le Brun strongly invites people to “do not circulate, otherwise we will not be able to clean properly”.

Beautiful solidarity on the Place des Otages. Greg, educator of the RCPM, Rugby club of the country of Morlaix, cooks the sausages and merguez for the traders and those who help. “Leclerc offered 100 baguettes, and the sausages-merguez are the remainder of Saturday’s tournament at the RCPM. »

Around 3 p.m., firefighters installed an anti-pollution boom at the port of Morlaix, after iridescence was observed, linked to the presence of hydrocarbons.

“The situation is under control”, indicated the mayor of Morlaix, on Monday, late in the afternoon. Around fifty businesses were affected by the floods, while around thirty people had to be relocated.