REPORTAGE
Forecasts of Météo France are unfortunately confirmed for residents of the Var and Alpes-Maritimes. Placed in red vigilance for a risk of flooding, just a week after similar events, the two departments suffered heavy rains on Sunday evening, raising fears of overflowing water tables already overloaded. The authorities call for the utmost caution and expressly ask residents not to leave their homes. "We are on maximum alert," says Sebastien Leroy, the mayor of Mandelieu-la-Napoule.
Anxiety to Mandelieu
On the A8 motorway, between Nice and Cannes, the situation is deteriorating very quickly. And the rain should not stop until midnight. On the asphalt, the water is difficult to evacuate, in places, it extends even several centimeters, increasing the risk of aquaplaning. Several accidents have already been reported, and the interchange of Cannes la Bocca has just been closed. This road serves Mandelieu-la-Napoule, where eleven people had to be evacuated preventively from their home on the ground floor. "We must avoid the sector of Mandelieu at all costs," warns his mayor Sebastien Leroy. They ask residents "not to go out and stay at home, on a high point". If the rivers have not yet overflowed, he is still worried about the very high level of Argentiere. "We have very strong flows of hills that have completely flooded the urban parts of the west of the city," says the city.
Le Muy plunges into the nightmare
In the Var, we also enter the main precipitation. At the exit of Muy, already touched last week, the Maralouche district is practically deserted. Only two families are still present in their house. "We were warned that it was going to overflow," says Sonia. "We have already evacuated the cars, but if we see that it goes up too much, we close everything and we evacuate like last time." She has lived in Muy for 30 years, and she had "never seen that". At the last survey of the town hall, the level of the Argens, the coastal river that borders certain neighborhoods of the Muy just rose 18 centimeters in just one hour.
All the victims of last weekend have already been safely relocated to a campsite at the entrance of the city. But many show their resignation with this second red alert in a week. "It's scary," admits Melanie, "but I tell myself that where I am I do not fear anything anyway, I did not have anything any more." In her house, there are only a few "trinkets" that she did not have time to sort. "There is not much to recover," she sighs anyway.