Underground networks overflowing, flooded roads, Wolf in flood… The scenario is well known to the inhabitants of Villeneuve-Loubet when the rains become torrential. More frequent due to climate change, Mediterranean episodes put infrastructure to the test. “Here, it was flooded all the time”argues Mayor Lionnel Luca from Boulevard du Général-de-Gaulle, in the heart of the new Maurettes district. To curb this risk, in continuation of the work imposed by the City on the developer during the construction of new residential buildings in 2018, the Antibes-Sophia Antipolis agglomeration community (Casa) and the Department inaugurated this Tuesday, December 3 2024, developments in two valleys in the sector. The end of works cost 2.3 million euros, co-financed in equal parts and initiated in September 2023.
Absorb a hundred-year flood
“This area is in the shape of a bowl with, below, the railway line which acts as a dam. At the slightest rain, the water rushed down and overflowed onto road 6007 [fréquentée par près de 50.000 véhicules par jour]because it cannot be drained by the valley. As was the case in 2019″explains Cédric Chenneval, technician in the management of aquatic environments and flood prevention department at the Casa.
Concretely, in front of the commercial area hosting the Action brand in particular, an openwork wooden esplanade, built on a grassy strip, now hides a concrete frame much larger than the previous one, ready to accommodate the runoff coming from the heights of the district. The underground network has also been purged of numerous cables, carrying fiber or even wastewater, now buried deeper. “The equipment can accommodate up to 3.3m of water/second, the equivalent of a ten-year flood, an event which has only a 10% probability of occurring each year, continues Cédric Chenneval. Until then, from 2m/second, it saturated.” Same operation in the Pierre-à-Tambour valley, a few minutes away, where the underground equipment capable of capturing water has doubled in volume. “We saw what happened in Valencia [victime d’inondations meurtrières fin octobre]. In 2020, the valleys of the department were hit hard. Nature calls us to order. This kind of investment aims to ensure that it does not happen again here.”underlines Charles Ange Ginésy, president of the departmental council.
Police station, town hall annex… The neighborhood is being equipped
Between the Malraux cultural space and the RD6007 (ex-RN7), the Maurettes district continues to change. Update on new equipment, delivered or to come.
– Municipal police station: since Monday, December 2, the neighborhood has hosted the municipality’s second station. Located at 213, bd du Général-de-Gaulle, it is open Monday to Friday, from 9 a.m. to 12 a.m. and from 2 to 5 p.m.
– Annex town hall: adjacent to the police station, it will open “in the first quarter of 2025”, indicates the City.
– Multipurpose room: announced almost a year ago during his wishes by Lionnel Luca, the 300 m² multipurpose room project, intended for associations and young people and negotiated with the developer who is building the Terre des Arts building, advance. “We are soon entering the call for tenders phase,” says the mayor. Delivery planned between the end of 2025 and the beginning of 2026.
– Cycle path: along the RD 6007, a section of cycle path is missing between the Lidl supermarket and the Avenue de Cavaliers roundabout. This could well see the light of day by the summer of 2025.
