After the damage was observed, the inhabitants cleaned up the mud left by the floods which hit the Gard on Sunday morning, as Europe 1 found. In Anduze, the water rose on Saturday up to seven meters high and facing to these increasingly frequent episodes, residents are more and more resigned. 

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Torrential rains fell on the Cévennes massif on Saturday.

In Anduze, a town of 3,400 inhabitants, the Gardon fell sharply during the night from Saturday to Sunday and returned to its normal course.

While the red alert from Météo France has been lifted, the inhabitants of neighborhoods impacted by the rains and the flood finished this Sunday morning cleaning the mud left by the waves.

It's hard to imagine that less than 24 hours ago, the water rose up to seven meters and infiltrated homes and restaurants.

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"In the kitchen, it's a disaster"

"It went up very, very quickly," says Véronique, used to going every morning to a cafe near the river.

"Today it was not possible, the water entered everywhere and they were in the mud!"

Broom in hand, Jean-Philippe spent his morning helping the owner of the restaurant closest to the stream.

"In the kitchen, it's a disaster," he laments.

"Each time, we are entitled to the mud that must be cleared. The owner is courageous because, frankly, you have to really hold on." 

Painful awakening for traders and residents at #Anduze#inondations@europe1pic.twitter.com/PPVV3xT6Gv

- Jean-Gabriel Bourgeois (@JGabBourgeois) September 20, 2020

A little further, in front of the Super U, the excavators cleared the mud and the branches that had fallen to the ground under the dazed gaze of passers-by like Thierry, who had come to clean the neighboring hunting room.

"We did what was necessary by throwing in a very large freezer," he regrets, disappointed.

"It's a matter of routine: every ten years, it's like that." 

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"A matter of routine"

Because these floods are not the first experienced by the inhabitants of Gard.

In Saint-Jean-du-Gard for example, a few kilometers west of Anduze, the level of the Gardon, identical to that recorded during the heavy rains of 2002, caused the flooding of the fire stations and the gendarmerie. .

The Cevennes episodes generally occur in autumn, when the Mediterranean Sea is the hottest, then promoting strong evaporation.

These hot, humid and unstable air masses move northwards causing heavy rains.