"I don't sleep anymore": in Pas-de-Calais, the distress of shopkeepers affected by floods

Lionel Gougelot (special correspondent in Saint-Etienne-du-Mont)/Photo credits: DENIS CHARLET / AFP 12:02 p.m., November 09, 2023

REPORT

Hit by historic floods that have caused significant damage, the Pas-de-Calais is on red alert on Thursday and is not expected to recede before Friday, leading to school closures for two days. Further damage is to be expected, while the traces of the previous flood have barely been erased. In Saint-Étienne-du-Mont, near Boulogne-sur-Mer, some shopkeepers have already lost everything.

Financial damage

Shop windows devastated, a stock of flour 100% destroyed. Corinne Raclot, the baker on the main street, watches with tears in her eyes as the water rises in her shop. "All the counters are overwhelmed. What do you want to recover? It hurts my heart but that's the way it is."

>> READ ALSO - "We went up to 1m60 of water": in Pas-de-Calais, inhabitants devastated after the floods

Two bakers, five employees on furlough, damage... A loss of turnover that will amount to tens of thousands of euros and, despite insurance, a lot of uncertainty for the future.

"Right now, I'm cashing in, but I'm not sleeping. I stay up but I don't sleep anymore because I'm thinking about all this. I'm thinking about the future: how are we going to do it? It's a loss of turnover too. I don't see myself stopping the business for good. It's not possible," Corinne Raclot continues.

"You have to stay positive"

Yet, the fear of a possible new flood is still present. "We'll see. You have to stay positive. We hope it doesn't continue, otherwise we'll scrape all the time. But frankly, there's no death of a man, that's the main thing," says the baker.

>> ALSO READ – Storms, floods... What are the right behaviors to adopt?

But for the shopkeeper, the trauma will take time to heal.