In September 2014, heavy rains caused the Bitoulet River to flood.
Four residents of the campsite located in a flood zone had died.
Eleven others were injured.
The mayor at the material time was prosecuted for failing to trigger the municipal safeguard plan and evacuation of the campsite.
His predecessor is being prosecuted for various shortcomings, in particular having extended the opening period of the campsite until the fall, the scene of frequent flooding in this region.
Two former mayors of Lamalou-les-Bains, a town in the hinterland of Hérault, are on trial, until Friday, by the criminal court of Béziers for homicide and involuntary injuries.
On the night of September 17 to 18, 2014, very heavy rains caused a violent flooding of the Bitoulet River, a tributary of the Orb.
Four people had died: a couple, as well as a woman and her daughter.
Eleven other people were injured.
Camping was an important source of income
All the victims were at the time of the tragedy at the municipal campsite.
Installed in 1982, it towered about three meters above the watercourse.
It was in an area that was declared flood prone in 1989, as were a nearby residence and subdivisions.
The campsite was a source of significant income for the town,
After a long procedural battle led to the Court of Cassation, Marcel Roques, mayor (UDF, then New centrists) of Lamalou from 1989 to 2014, and Philippe Tailland, mayor (DVG) for a few months at the time of the disaster, were definitely returned to correctional.
Two employees of the spa and two municipal officials were dismissed.
Failure to trigger the backup plan
By ordering the referral to court of the two ex-mayors, now 73 years old, the investigating chamber of the Montpellier Court of Appeal considered that Philippe Tailland had committed "characterized faults".
She had in particular underlined “the failure to trigger the municipal safeguard plan and evacuation of the campsite”.
The department had however been placed under orange vigilance for risk of flooding by Météo-France.
Marcel Roques had led the town for his part for thirty-one years.
He is accused of various failings in the earlier period*.
In particular for not having had the stream properly maintained or for having extended the opening period of the campsite until the fall.
During this period, violent storms responsible for flooding are frequent in the region.
Justice
Deadly floods in Lamalou-les-Bains: Six years later, two former mayors sent back to correctional
Bad weather: in the Southeast, a deadly and trying autumn 2014
Occitania
Languedoc Roussillon
Severe weather
Flood
Mayor
Beziers
Montpellier
Justice
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To safeguard
A fault ?
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