“It’s disgusting and it’s unbearable! ” Here is the alert cry launched by Laura *, resident of the building located at 7, rue Duguay-Trouin, in Rouen (Seine-Maritime). She, as well as the other tenants, have for some time been facing a real rat invasion. “It’s been three years that it lasts, but now it got out of hand,” she notes, exasperated. However, our building is new. He must be less than five years old. ”

The local resident points to the lack of waste containers and the need to set up a garbage room. Currently, the bins are found along the road, behind the building. Result: waste accumulates and overflows. And it doesn’t take much more to attract the hungry, litter-loving rats.

“We no longer dare to throw our trash cans”

“Before, we had semi-underground trash cans, Laura continues. Now we have containers roaming all over the place, and rats proliferating. In a video sent by a tenant (see below), several rats can be seen navigating between the rubbish littering the ground, and sneaking into the trash cans.

Rats are so used to it that they are no longer afraid when we go to throw our trash cans.

The situation even tends to worsen, testifies the tenant. “The inhabitants no longer dare to throw away their trash, so they leave it in their garage. And now there are rats in the garages. ”

“The person in charge of the maintenance of the residence has already proceeded to the laying of traps, without the obvious lack of success, but involving the laying of garbage on the ground only worsens the phenomenon”, she insists. . Contacted, the social landlord of the building did not respond to our requests.

“A rat got into a car”

The problem seems endless, and residents find themselves helpless. To shake things up, Laura started a petition with two other residents. “We toured the apartments to bring up the problem. People tell us that they hear scratching in their pipes. Another person told us that a rat had entered his car, ”she recounts.

When we walk into the garage, we stamp our feet to scare the rats, because we know there may be some.

The resident confides having contacted the Metropolis of Rouen in order to find a solution. In a letter sent with several tenants, she asks for “the provision of a sufficient number of containers and the provision of selective sorting. “” The smell of rat droppings in this area is becoming unbearable. It thus becomes frightening and repugnant to have to proceed to the deposit of its ordinances ”, write the signatories.

According to Laura, the problem has even become widespread, and now affects other buildings. Hela, a neighbor, wishes to go to a permanence of the town hall to raise the problem. “The situation has really deteriorated, it is no longer possible,” she pleaded.

Find solutions

The Metropolis of Rouen, as well as elected officials, took up the problem as soon as it was brought up to them, assures Valentin Rasse-Lambrecq, elected as mayor of Rouen in charge of the western sector. He first recalls that the subject of the cleanliness of public space is global. “There is a side to the fight against illegal dumping, since there is a proliferation of rats. Massive verbalizations are made by the Environmental Cleanliness Brigade, ”he recalls.

Overall, rat populations have decreased in Rouen, but we can see more because there is work near the Seine.

Concerning the regrouping bins, since this is the problem raised by the invaded tenants, Valentin Rasse-Lambrecq offers solutions. “These garbage cans, dilapidated and unsightly which sometimes train in public space, in the long term, they will be provided for by buried or aerial columns. In my area, we have already identified the streets that are the black spots. So, work is already planned for December on rue Saint-Gervais or even rue Louis Aubert. But the installation of underground or aerial columns involves complex logistics.

“If you want to do it well, it takes time, because you also have to get in touch with the different condominiums. I also go door-to-door with local residents in order to identify expectations and problems. “In case of inconvenience, precisely, the elected representative reminds that he is available to exchange. “We must not hesitate to escalate the problems to elected officials and to the services of the Metropolis. My phone number is public. ”

* The first name has been changed

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