in Vendôme, unusual floods surprised residents

The flood peak was reached this Sunday in Loir-et-Cher. Although the water is gradually receding, almost half of the municipalities have been affected by flooding in the department. For residents, it is time to take stock of the damage.

The water has receded in most of the departments affected by flooding, after the passage of Storm Kirk last week. In Eure-et-Loir, almost half of the municipalities were affected by flooding. The Loir-et-Cher, however, remains on orange flood alert for a “significant flood on the Loir Vendômois” details Météo France. These strong and unseasonable floods surprised residents of the region who are worried about the rest of the winter.

The extent of the damage is still difficult to estimate for affected residents and traders. “We had around 80 cm of water inside our business which is 350 m2,” explains Matthieu Malaquin, co-manager of a fishing tackle store in Châteaudun. He has an appointment this Monday with an expert.

“We will see the extent of the damage and he will offer us solutions to get our business back up and running,” he hopes.

Cleaning also begins today on the plot of Laurent Neilz, horticulturist in Vendôme. “I estimate between 10 and 20,000 plants lost anyway. It’s huge,” he regrets.

An unprecedented scale

Eight months of work destroyed. “Floods at that time, in the month of October, are unprecedented. We are more used to having floods from January and in the winter than now,” he explains.

Floods which arrive earlier and which are more significant, testifies Laurent Brillard, the mayor of Vendôme.

“We even beat the level reached in 1995 which was +2m25 and there we went up to +2m27. At this scale, it’s still quite unprecedented,” he points out.

Since Sunday, the water has started to recede and the situation is returning to normal in Vendôme even if the cleaning is far from finished. This Monday morning, the schoolchildren find their way back to school.