"One in two houses can be impacted": how drought has become a danger for housing

Alexandre Dalifard 17:31 pm, March 17, 2023

>>Every evening in the Libre Antenne of Europe 1, listeners confide and testify. A difficulty, a bad pass or a moment of happiness, our Free antenna is above all yours. At the microphone of Olivier Delacroix that evening, Yves, 67 years old and referent of the national association Les Oubliés de la Canicule, is interested in people affected by sinister drought in their homes. The auditor himself was a victim of this disaster in the summer of 2018.

With global warming, drought damage to homes is becoming more frequent and worrying. "In general, it starts with aesthetic cracks on the goods and it gets worse regularly. This happens on clay soils. They are hit with a phenomenon called 'shrinkage swelling'. That is, in severe drought, the earth shrinks and therefore the foundations fall and fracture. And when the rain returns, the earth swells and the foundations rise and break a second time," warns Yves. So, with the levels of drought that the France has experienced for the past twenty years, an increasing number of homes are impacted. This is not without consequences for the inhabitants who find themselves in distress, because some goods are no longer habitable and become unsaleable. Many households, indebted for years with their mortgages, end up losing everything.

"We try to bring solidarity to these people to help them defend themselves. This is the purpose of our association. Because insurance, normally, are responsible, when there is a natural disaster order, to compensate the victims with public aid. The problem is that several insurance companies refuse coverage with a number of pretexts, "points the finger the referent of the association. These refusals set the beginning of a long struggle for the victims who simply sought to assert their rights. "Our role is therefore to help them as much as possible in this obstacle course," he says.

>> READ ALSO - With global warming, will drought become the norm?

10 million single-family homes threatened

In France, according to a report made public in 2021 by the Ministry of Ecological Transition, more than 10 million individual houses are threatened because of successive droughts. And the phenomenon is likely to increase. "The figures say that about one in two houses is likely to be impacted because it is built on clay soils," says Yves. The phenomenon appeared massively at the end of the drought of 2003, date of the creation of the association Les Oubliés de la Canicule. Since then, it has only worsened since 2015 and 2018 in particular. For the previous year, the natural disaster orders have not yet been published, but 2022 has been terrible. As for 2023, information from the Ministry of Ecology says that the current drought is already very strong and that it is likely to be extremely violent next summer.

A natural disaster decree

Faced with these disasters, what are the remedies? According to Yves, when the individual begins to see cracks and is on clay soil, the first thing to do is "to contact the town hall of his commune". The latter will request recognition in natural disaster for its municipality over the period concerned. "It can take anywhere from six months to a year for you to get it, if you get it. Because there are cases, almost one municipality out of two, for which the decree was not taken into account. This is very problematic", informs the referent of the association.

>> READ ALSO - Winter drought: the worrying situation of French groundwater

Once the order is published, the insured has 10 days, according to the law, to send a registered letter with acknowledgment of receipt to his insurer to report the damage. Then, the insurance will commission an expert who will come on site to assess the damage. "That's where things usually get into trouble. Very often, the experts commissioned by the companies, at least initially, refuse and find a number of arguments to consider that it is not the drought the determining factor," laments Yves. "However, when there is a natural disaster order, when there has been a period of abnormal drought, and when we are on clay soil with cracks, generally very recognizable, there is no real doubt. And this is the great difficulty for most of the victims," concludes the listener, himself a victim of a sinister drought in his house.

To avoid this situation, the association Les Oubliés de la Canicule advises to be assisted by an expert who directly represents the victims, independent of insurance companies. He will become a kind of defense lawyer.