Floods: Emmanuel Macron asks the government to "act faster to help the affected populations"

Europe 1 with AFP // Photo credit: LUDOVIC MARIN / POOL / AFP 19:36 p.m., January 07, 2024

Emmanuel Macron on Sunday asked the government to "speed up the responses" to the record floods that hit the Pas-de-Calais, "especially with the arrival of the cold", said the entourage of the head of state.

"Acting even faster to help the affected populations"

The President "spoke" on Sunday with Élisabeth Borne and the Minister of Ecological Transition Christophe Béchu "to ask them to speed up responses to the situation that the inhabitants of Pas-de-Calais are going through, in particular with the arrival of cold on soggy grounds, or even always flooded", said the services of the Head of State. "He asked them to act even faster to help the affected populations, the most precarious and the homeless," the same source said.

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Élisabeth Borne is expected in the department on Tuesday "to discuss all the solutions to be put in place", Matignon stressed. Meanwhile, Housing Minister Patrice Vergriete could make announcements Monday as part of the cold weather plan and the unveiling of other measures on emergency housing. The Pas-de-Calais remained classified on Sunday as an orange flood watch for two rivers, the Lys Plaine and the Canche. For its part, the Aa, which had reached the red level last week, has moved back to yellow and the flood is receding.

According to the latest assessment from the prefecture, 95 municipalities and 2,084 homes have been affected by this second episode of exceptional flooding in less than two months, which has led to the evacuation of 743 people.