Emmanuel Macron at the head of Pas de Calais. On Tuesday, the president visited the department, which has been hit by days of rain, flooding and devastating floods. Meteo France has once again assigned it an orange alert level due to the risk of flooding and rain. The head of state first went to Saint-Omer, then to Blendek, a city particularly affected by the floods of recent days.
He announced the classification of “all municipalities that requested this” as a natural disaster. This applies to 244 municipalities in the Pas-de-Calais and about thirty in the north. The list will be published in the Official Journal on Wednesday.
The head of state is accompanied by the Minister of Agriculture Marc Fenot, the Minister of Ecological Transition Christophe Bechu and the Minister of Small and Medium Enterprises Olivia Grégoire. An orange flood alert has been issued for seven of the department’s rivers controlled by Vigicrues: Liana, Lys upstream, Low Clarence, Canche, Lys plain, Hem and Aa.
“Rain on Tuesday may cause levels to rise,” the news service warned of the risk of flooding in France’s main rivers.
France’s Meteo does forecast a “short period of rain” with “quite heavy intensity” requiring “special vigilance given the saturation of the soil.” These showers will result in “cumulative rainfall amounts reaching 25-30mm within a few hours.”
Faced with this situation, by decision of the prefecture, educational institutions in the department’s 279 municipalities, or a total of 388 institutions, will remain closed on Tuesday after closing on Monday. The floods of recent days have also caused significant damage to the neighboring department of the North, in particular the Plain of Lyces.
“Food Donations”
According to senator and regional council vice-president Frank Dersen, more than 10,000 victims have been identified and “many artisans, traders and small and medium-sized businesses have been affected.”
Since November 6, the department has conducted 1,391 evacuations and 7,200 people have faced water restrictions, according to the prefecture. A commission meeting will be held on Tuesday to recognize the disaster for the affected municipalities of Nord and Pas-de-Calais. According to the prefecture, in the last department, 207 municipalities submitted a dossier.
Following these floods, the Restos du Cœur issued an “urgent” appeal for “food donations” and “volunteers” to distribute collected clothing, blankets and food.
The death toll since the beginning of the episode remains at four minor injuries. A 60-year-old woman also died in Bayeul (North) while driving her car, which was found in a flooded ditch on Saturday, with the Dunkirk prosecutor’s office unable to definitively establish a link to bad weather.
Although floods, cyclones and droughts are natural phenomena, they can be exacerbated by human-caused global warming.
Source: Le Parisien
I have worked in the news industry for over 12 years. I have a vast amount of experience in different areas of the industry, including politics. I am currently a political news writer for 24 News Recorder. I have also written a book about politics. In my free time, I enjoy spending time with my family and friends, as well as traveling.
