The municipalities affected in the East on Saturday by floods observed a gradual return to normal on Sunday, according to the various elected officials interviewed by AFP, despite the maintenance of orange vigilance by Météo-France in Moselle and Bas-Rhin.
“The recession is well advanced, we are in the process of removing all the protective equipment,” rejoices Bruno Minutiello, president of the community of communes of the Territoire de Lunéville in Baccarat (Meurthe-et-Moselle), not mentioning any significant incident.
This territory had been placed on red alert on Saturday for a flood of the Vezouze, which had risen from its bed and reached 2.90 meters while it was still at 0.60 meters on Thursday. But it did not reach the level recorded during the 2006 floods, as had been feared. The river has returned to yellow alert.
“The night was calm, no homes were flooded,” confirms the mayor of Lunéville, Catherine Paillard.
In Moselle, the time is also receding for the Nied, on red alert on Saturday but downgraded to orange on Sunday.
“The main street is free, the water has receded, all the homes are accessible, whereas yesterday people had 1.50 meters of water in their houses,” explains René Kupperschmit, mayor of Filstroff (Moselle) , referring to the provision of food to certain families by the local kayak club.
“The decline happened with incredible speed. Today people are cleaning up, I think the prefect will issue a natural disaster order for the entire sector,” he added.
But further upstream, in Ancerville (Moselle), the decline was not yet observed, the Nied reaching 2.64 meters on Sunday morning, compared to 0.65 meters on Thursday.
“The water still covers the two departmental roads about thirty centimeters high, the passage is very difficult. But the houses are not flooded, it mainly affects travel,” notes the mayor, Patrick Angelaud.
In the Bas-Rhin, “generally speaking, the decline is beginning on the majority of watercourses, even if certain sectors remain under surveillance,” indicates the prefecture in a press release. Around twenty departmental roads remain inaccessible, but “the situation is gradually returning to normal”.
The prefect announced that she would support requests for recognition of the state of “natural disaster” by the affected municipalities.
A yellow alert for thunderstorms, however, concerns 76 departments on Sunday, including those in the Grand Est region, and raises fears of further precipitation.