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In Trèbes, inhabitants and agents of the city are hard at work to clean the mud after the floods. REUTERS / Jean-Paul Pelissier

After the deadly floods of the night from Sunday to Monday, the department of Aude, in the south of France, is just beginning to assess the extent of the damage. The last human toll is at least thirteen people killed.

In Trèbes, one of the most affected cities, two days after the floods on Tuesday, the urgency was to help the victims to clear their homes. Marie-Françoise and her husband clean their garden. They finished getting all the mud off the ground floor of their house, helped by many arms. " The army came to us and people came nicely too," reports Marie-Françoise. Now it is flawless so to return you must take off. "

► France: how to explain the sudden floods in the Aude?

Firefighters try to verify that all houses have been evacuated. One of them is worried, the locals said that an old man was alone in one of them. The refugee on the first floor refuses firefighters entry until an insurance representative has come to see the damage. " For a part, we are not Trèbes, said a firefighter, so we know little about the area. We have to go knock on people's doors because we do not know who has been evacuated or not. With respect to insurance, some do not want to touch anything, but they can not continue to live in mud and loose furniture. If it continues to rain like that in the next few days, I do not know how they will do it. "

The district of Trèbes most affected is a city. Its inhabitants, poor, could have a hard time recovering from the tragedy that hit them in the night from Sunday to Monday.

The Canal du Midi out of bed

These deadly floods have also ravaged the landscape of Aude. The vineyards were drowned and the Canal du Midi, tourist attraction of the region, usually calm and romantic, came out of bed. Now he is wearing a earthy color. Many boats were thrown against the wharf during the floods. The only barge still inhabited and in good condition is that of an English couple.

" I was there at midnight, I realized that we would be taken to the docks, says Martin who refused to abandon his ship. So I came here and I hung the boat on the wall. We want to put our houseboat to winter in Castelnaudary, but there is no water, they have lowered the level because they expect more rain. "

On the Canal du Midi, usually so calm, boats found themselves in a vertical position. REUTERS / Jean-Paul Pelissier

Faced with the apocalyptic vision of a canal where some boats are vertical is the restaurant of fish Fabienne. One can imagine the usual calm of its terrace. But today, everything is closed and surely for several days. " It took us 24 hours to clean up, remove the mud. All that is down no longer works, the bar cabinet has taken the water. Electricity does not work everywhere, explains Fabienne. We were on alert, OK, but we were always told that the channel could never overflow so we were confident. Proof that no. "

When the day comes, Fabienne will have several questions to ask the authorities: why not open the locks earlier? Why are the local supermarkets all closed while the locals are short of food? For now, we must continue to mop and rub.