Five days after the exceptional bad weather that devastated the Nice hinterland, President Emmanuel Macron left, Wednesday, October 7, to meet the victims.

The Head of State arrived by helicopter in the village of Tende, still partially without electricity and inaccessible by road.

Some 200 people were waiting for him.

Emmanuel Macron immediately took stock with the members of the civil security and the gendarmes present in this village in the Roya valley, one of the most damaged by the bad weather. 

Emmanuel Macron in Tende, to meet residents, relief workers and elected officials pic.twitter.com/giFIwzEXEL

- France Bleu Azur (@francebleuazur) October 7, 2020

The voice tied, the mayor of Tende Jean-Pierre Vassallo told the president of the disaster experienced by the 2,000 inhabitants during the torrential rains.

"Friday night was a nightmare, he says. The houses were falling one after the other. We evacuated the nursing home. With the nursing staff, the firefighters, we made a real miracle."

"Now, I am impressed, when the France machine starts up, it's impressive," he added, referring to the mobilization of relief and the solidarity of the inhabitants of this mountain area.

After his visit to Tende, Emmanuel Macron was to go to Breil-sur-Roya and Saint-Martin-Vésubie, where he will be interviewed in the 8 pm newspapers of TF1 and France 2. He will end his visit in the evening by the center departmental operational located at the prefecture in Nice. 

With @ prefet06, @ECiotti @cestrosi and elected officials we welcome the President @EmmanuelMacron and @GDarmanin in the #AlpesMaritimes department.



We are going to #Tende, #BreilSurRoya and #SaintMartinVesubie to take stock of the situation.

pic.twitter.com/nzt1KQqB1r

- Charles Ange Ginesy (@ca_ginesy) October 7, 2020

Support "commensurate with the disaster"

A few hours before arriving in these disaster areas located north of Nice, Emmanuel Macron had promised support "commensurate with the disaster", which left at least four dead, eight missing and 13 "supposed missing".

Two other people died in Italy, during these bad weather of extraordinary violence.                 

"The Nation will be present in the long term", assured the President of the Republic, while these mountain regions offer a landscape of desolation: dozens of houses have been swallowed up by water or gutted, bridges and roads torn up, destroyed drinking water networks.

The cost of reconstruction is estimated at one billion euros, said the president of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region Renaud Muselier based on figures from the prefect.

And it will take months of effort to rebuild.

"It's a crazy thing!" Exclaimed to AFP the president LR of the Alpes-Maritimes department Charles-Ange Ginesy, referring to the damage caused to the road crossing the Roya valley, today 'hui become a series of dotted lines on the mountainside.

On the side of the Alpes-Maritimes department, it is estimated that 1,500 economic players will be in difficulty, in valleys living mainly from tourism.

Expectations are high on the ground, facing a government, which was to declare a state of natural disaster for the territories concerned.

With AFP

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