FRENCH SOLDIERS were deployed to help with the relief effort in the Côte d’Azur yesterday after the flash floods that killed 25 people and caused extensive damage in the region.
Thirteen people were still missing three days after the floods caused by torrential rain in the Var department, while technicians were working to restore power to some 3,000 homes in the worst affected areas. The floods were the most ferocious recorded in the region in almost 200 years.
In the town of Draguignan, where 12 of the deaths occurred, hundreds of homes were without clean water yesterday. One of the main roads leading to the town was closed due to a deep crater left by the floods, while low-lying areas were strewn with abandoned cars and tonnes of debris.
A local hospital and one of the biggest prisons in the region were forced to close when their lower floors were filled with two metres of water and their electricity was cut. Four inmates escaped on Tuesday night, but the rest of the 1,600 were transferred.
Prime minister François Fillon yesterday urged local authorities in the Var to officially declare the floods a natural disaster, and said the army and all other operational resources at the state’s disposal were being made available to help in the relief and clean-up operation. It was estimated yesterday afternoon that about 2,000 soldiers, firemen and police were deployed in the region.
As attention turned from the rescue mission to the clean-up, the shortage of drinking water was the focus of relief efforts yesterday, with soldiers distributing bottled water and teams of specialists working to restore disrupted supplies. Emergency teams cleared away hundreds of animal carcasses, working quickly to avoid water contamination.
Queues formed outside some of the shops that managed to reopen, while riot police were on the streets to prevent looting.
In towns and villages across the flood zone, home-owners could be seen piling furniture, mattresses, clothes and electrical appliances on the footpaths.
In Draguignan, Véronique Gonzales was sifting through the small space that housed her cafe and snack bar. “We’ve all got sore backs and we’re tired, but we’re doing our best,” she said. Her shop was insured, but she had been told her claim could take months to process. “And how am I going to pay my rent or anything else between now and then?”
President Nicolas Sarkozy is due to visit the region early next week, while two ministers, Jean-Louis Borloo and Chantal Jouanno, have been asked to draft proposals for ways to improve prevention and warning systems for future floods near the Mediterranean coast.