The decline began on Thursday on the Aa, the coastal river of Pas-de-Calais still classified red on Thursday, but many localities have their feet in the water, including those where the Minister of Ecological Transition Christophe Béchu and the government spokesperson.
Christophe Bchu, Minister of Ecological Transition, and Olivier Vran, government spokesperson, went to Arques, on the Aa, Thursday morning, before going to the Montreuil-sur-mer region at the beginning of the afternoon. noon.
Arques was in turn invaded by water on Thursday morning, even in the city center where a tractor was helping residents cross certain streets. Many businesses were closed and sandbags were placed in front of flooded homes. Aerial images showed streets and gardens submerged over large areas, where houses are isolated by water.
On the Aa, the flood peak was reached early Wednesday evening, according to the monitoring organization Vigicrues. The decline began during the night of Wednesday Thursday but the levels remain exceptionally high at the start of Thursday morning justifying its continued red vigilance.
Pumping resources announced on the first day of flooding on Tuesday are scheduled to begin deployment on Thursday. Four civil security pumps must be installed in the Mardyck sector (North). Four pumps from the Netherlands, two pumps from Czechia and two pumps from Slovakia left for the Nord and Pas-de-Calais as part of the European Union civil protection mechanism, indicated the European Commission on its website.
According to the general direction of French Civil Security, they should be operational on Friday. Austria, Hungary, Sweden, Slovenia and Slovakia have also offered assistance in case of additional needs. The floods also affect four other departments in the north-east of France, classified on orange alert: the Ardennes, Aisne, Meuse and the North.
In Loire-Atlantique, a 73-year-old man was discovered dead in his partially submerged car on Wednesday afternoon after apparently having entered a road cut off by traffic due to flooding, the Nantes prosecutor’s office announced.
A firefighter was slightly injured in the hand on Wednesday during an intervention in Aire-sur-la-Lys, the Pas-de-Calais prefecture said. According to the prefecture’s latest report on Wednesday evening, 1,300 homes were affected by rising water levels in this department.