Floods in the Nord / Pas-de-Calais: the first evacuations of inhabitants have started
At the beginning of the afternoon, 60 people were evacuated from 20 houses in the municipality of Arneke, and were gathered in a communal room, said the firefighters of the North.
In this department, public roads were also flooded in the municipalities of Esquelbecq and Eringhem, where an elderly disabled person was evacuated as a preventive measure from his home.
Eleven departments until Monday in vigilance orange snow and ice
In the Pas-de-Calais in the middle of the day, the firefighters had carried out 59 pumping interventions, most in the Saint-Omer sector and in particular in Arques, indicated their service. The Pas-de-Calais department was placed in orange vigilance on Sunday morning for “flooding”, Météo-France said.
From the night of Saturday to Sunday, “heavy rains fell on Hauts-de-France and lasted until early Sunday afternoon”, reported the Vigicrues site. In Pas-de-Calais, “the Lys upstream and Lawe-Clarence rivers”, tributaries of the Scheldt, “began to react to this precipitation and localized overflows are observed in these sectors”. “The levels of these rivers must continue to rise this afternoon and overflows could occur on these sections”, warned Vigicrues.
In these conditions, “significant flooding is possible “ that may affect traffic conditions, the electricity supply or submerge the dikes, recall the site. Eleven departments are also until Monday in vigilance orange snow and ice, said Météo-France. These are Ain, Isère, Savoie, Haute-Savoie, Corrèze, Creuse, Puy-de-Dôme, Ariège, Haute-Garonne, Pyrénées-Atlantiques and Hautes- Pyrenees.