Last October, the floods which devastated Valencia, Spain, left their mark. Is such a catastrophe possible in Corrèze? In the department, a third of the municipalities are exposed. If the town of Tulle is affected by the threat, it has proven to be better protected since the renaturation of the watercourse.
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It flows peacefully through the center of Tulle, spreading an atmosphere of tranquility in the heart of the city. However, traders based on the banks of the Corrèze know how tumultuous the river can be.
“In 2001, we had more than a meter of water in the cellarremembers Cécile At, manager of the restaurant “La Taverne du Sommelier”. Our establishment has a cellar which corresponds to the bed of Corrèze. We were, like many others, very often exposed to rising waters.“Fortunately, there is no longer any trace of the past disasters.
In Spain, images of the city of Valencia, ravaged last October by torrential rains and deadly floods, have left their mark across Europe. In Corrèze, they revived memories of destructive floods. In the department, a third of the municipalities are exposed. This is the main threat of natural disaster. Although the town of Tulle is no exception to this reality, it has proven to be better protected since the renaturation of the watercourse, completed eight years ago. “We won everythingrejoices Cécile At. We have never been in a risk situation again.“
More than a hundred cellars were regularly flooded during the ten-year floods. Today, there are almost none left.
Michel Breuilh, president of the Tulle urban community
Carried out in 2013 and 2016 to restore biodiversity, the work on the river made it possible to remove the thresholds hindering the movement of fish… but also water! The reduction in flooding is a welcome side effect of this two million euro project.
The president of the Tulle agglomeration community, Michel Breuilh, welcomes it again: “The course of the river is to go from upstream to downstream without obstacle. This is what we tried to do through renaturation. There are quite a few communities who came to see what was done in Tulle, which had aroused quite a bit of concern at the time.” Elected officials and administrators noted a real change after the work: “When we see the number of cellars that were flooded before… More than a hundred cellars were regularly flooded during the ten-year floods. Today, there are almost none left.“
Carried out between 2013 and 2016, the renaturation of Corrèze had the main objective of restoring biodiversity. It will have had the collateral effect of improving water circulation, reducing the risk of flooding.
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A threat still persists: a hundred-year flood. That of October 1960 remains in the annals. Tulle and Brive had been submerged by water, the Corrèze having overflowed its entire course. The water suddenly rose five meters in places. The flow reached seven hundred cubic meters per second. If a phenomenon of this magnitude occurred today, renaturation would not protect Tulle from flooding. “There was modeling work that was done upstream, explains Olivier Lefeuvre, technician at the river service of the urban community. It shows that in major floods, there is a reduction of approximately five to ten centimeters in the flood hazard. So it has a very limited effect.“
In 1960, the flood proved so violent that eight departments in central France were affected by the disaster.
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