“We feel abandoned”, say residents after the floods which affected the Cité de l’Odet in Quimper [vidéo]

“I'm starting to get tired of it. The municipality absolutely must do what is necessary,” declares Robert Muguet, resident of the Odet city in Quimper. After a restless night, marked by heavy rain in the Quimper region, some woke up at 7 a.m. to discover an abnormal water level on the road. For others, it's the inside of the house that ends up with 10 cm of water.

“We expected it”

Robert Muguet was not really surprised. “I woke up at 6:30 a.m. and noticed an unusual water level,” he recalls. The water continued to rise until 8:30 a.m. We are located at a low point, the water stagnates and accumulates if the drains do not do their job. We haven’t seen this since 2014.”

After 2022 and 2023, repeat in 2024: the districts of the city of Odet have not escaped the flood.

Claude Le Brun, deputy in charge of the Penhars district, denounces a structural problem. “We expected it. The problem was almost inevitable. The drainage system is faulty and needs to be remedied. »

Up to 10 cm of water

Arriving in the neighborhood in May, Laura is one of the residents most impacted by the floods. “I wasn't worried at first. This morning as I wake up I start to see water seeping through the front door. I decide to go out and I notice that my yard is completely submerged. Since my house is not raised, I find myself with 10 cm of water in my home. »

The young woman initially thought that the Odet had overflowed due to the rains, but she quickly discovered that the cause lay elsewhere. “It’s a failure of the evacuation systems. The town hall is to blame and that saddens me,” she confides. A heavy observation for Laura who had just done some work in her house. “I just laid my parquet floor and today it is floating. I will have to change the legs of my tables and my sofa risks rotting because of the humidity,” insists the young woman.

Several hours of work for firefighters

At the end of rue du Lavoir, just before the towpath, François comes out of his garden with a shovel and a bucket in his hand. At his house, water continues to rush into the garage. “We feel abandoned. We need help and firefighters,” he complains. They arrived in the neighborhood shortly before 11 a.m. and quickly noticed the damage. “For the moment, we cannot intervene since we cannot bring the truck. The water is not going down,” says one of them.

Veolia agents arrive a few minutes later. To the residents, they try to explain what happened last night. “It rained a lot and the tide was high all night. The water could not be evacuated,” argues an agent. In total, around ten homes were directly impacted by these floods. “It will take us several hours, even several days to evacuate everything,” warns a firefighter.