Wednesday, December 4, the prefect of Loiret, Sophie Brocas, surrounded in particular by elected officials from the municipalities and the EPCI concerned, representatives of the gendarmerie and firefighters, drew up an initial assessment, halfway through, of the exercise “of a previously unprecedented dimension”. Among the positive points, she highlighted “the good flow of information”and said she was satisfied “coordination between services and entities”as well as “the good understanding of citizens thanks to the means of communication”. She also recalled “the establishment of general public mapping, so that residents can learn about the impact of the flood”and emphasized that “the 60 municipalities involved in this exercise found it useful”.
Concerning areas for improvement, the State representative noted the difficulties in “obtain from municipalities a vision of their needs”insisted on the need for intermunicipalities to take precedence over municipalities, and considered it necessary “to further anticipate the care of people in EHPADs and hospitals”.
Orléans Métropole and Orléans town hall on the bridge
“We cannot do crisis management if we are not trained in it”. Friday evening, at the end of these 5 days of exercise, it was the turn of the mayor of Orléans and president of the Metropolis, Serge Grouard, at the heart of “his” brand new crisis unit, to take stock of the week, relatively satisfactory. “We were able to test the entire chain of command and the operational chain, test our available tools, our abilities to organize, evacuate, inform, react…” The opportunity, thanks in particular to the giant screens allowing a modeling of the rising water levels, to raise questions about the evacuation or not of the underground car parks and the methods of execution, to question the fate of the businesses concerned… “We are never perfectly ready, but we have to be as ready as possible”recalled the first councilor alongside his municipal councilor responsible for major risks and related crisis management, Olivier Geffroy. And this is not yet entirely the case, judging in particular by the cruel lack of picot beds (folding camp beds) available at local and national level in the event of emergency accommodation, or the lack of communication with certain public space concessionaires.
A new large-scale exercise could be organized in 2025, with mass evacuation of residents on the mainland territory, “a close of review in order to strengthen our procedures”the pair concluded together.
Canada
