One month after the floods, the Loire department will release exceptional aid of two million euros

According to the Loire departmental council, the cost of terrible floods of October 17 amounts, in total, to ten million euros minimum for the community. This Monday, an exceptional envelope of two million was voted to allow emergency work to be carried out on the roads. These are only departmental roads, since part of the damaged roads belong to Saint-Étienne Métropole.

The Chavanay/Pelussin and Saint-Sauveur-en-Rue sector are concerned, explains Jérémy Lacroix, vice-president of the department in charge of roads and the budget: “We have already started work since November 4 and we need additional funds to be able to finance this work. We have problems in the Chavanay sector, on the RD7 with a bridge which has completely collapsed on the RD 1086 and , also on Chavanay, with a bridge which was heavily affected. So we are obliged to impose a tonnage limitation. We will try to do this work as quickly as possible for the simple reason that it is necessary. that people can go to work on a daily basis. These are two million euros that we are taking from other operations which will be delayed over time. This is not money that we are pulling out of a hat, to be very clear and simple. , we need to allocate credits in order to be able to undertake public expenditure.

“We will be united to the extreme limit of our means”

Because there will be other projects to carry out in the medium and long term, while the Department’s finances are already exhausted and the government has asked the departments to make a special effort this year. President Georges Ziegler therefore wrote to the Prime Minister with his counterparts from Haute-Loire, Rhône and Ardeche, to ask him to be exempt from this contribution. But there is no answer at the moment.

Furthermore, the Department also made a request to the State for specific funding for climatic events. There too, it’s on hold. “We will be united to the extreme limit of our means” promises the president of the department, “but we will do what we can with what we have” he also wants to clarify.