A month after the floods, two roads remain cut in Chavanay

The streets are clean, the businesses are open, everyone has returned to their habits, but the images and concerns linked to last October 17 are still very present in our heads residents of Chavanay like Anne-Laure: “It was very shocking and disturbing, our house was slightly affected, there was water in the cellar so it’s always stressful and when it rains we think about it”she said. That day, his children and the hundred students from the town's private school were evacuated by firefighters because water entered the cellar of their school. A month later, director Véronique Jardin continues the meetings: “I have returned from crisis management with the firefighters and I also have to see the town hall to take stock of the triggering of the village security because the instructions were not precise, so it is not is not to complain, but to get things done”.

Below the school, we can see the piece of cliff which broke away and fell into the Valencize, access to the jousting pool is prohibited and then there is the Tour Bridge, an old stone bridge completely destroyed under the weight of water. Its destruction cuts the town in two, those who live on the other bank can no longer come to the center of the town on foot. “There is much less traffic”observes Loïc the baker, “An expert came by and I lost 30% of my turnover on average”. So he hopes for financial aid and above all a footbridge to temporarily replace the bridge. “There is a petition circulating, but we have not heard from the town hall, no one has come to see us, it does not seem to be their priority”he laments.

The road to Pélussin closed for at least another year

All the residents we meet talk about these travel issues. Betty, for example, is forced to make detours just to take her children to school: “We pass on the D86 which is reduced to one lane so it is longer, it complicates our daily lives and above all we take sometimes narrow roads which are not suitable for the passage of trucks or public transport. Roads which risk being damaged very quickly this winter”.

This is the case to reach the neighboring town of Pélussin, also closed due to the destruction of a bridge. It will not only be necessary to rebuild, but also to consolidate the land and the work could take at least another year! according to the town hall of Pélussin which specifies that on the other hand, the road between Maclas and St Pierre-de-Boeuf should reopen at the end of the month or the beginning of December, which will prevent trucks from taking the small roads as they do Today.