Interior Minister Laurent Nunez indicated that nearly 270 additional municipalities have submitted applications for recognition of a state of natural disaster following the recent floods that affected western France. These applications, from 16 departments, will be examined on March 3 and 10 by an interministerial commission.
During a visit to Angers and Cheffes, in the Maine-et-Loire department, alongside the Minister for Ecological Transition, Monique Barbut, the minister specified that 294 municipalities had already received this recognition. Among them are 63 municipalities in Lot-et-Garonne, 77 in Maine-et-Loire, and 91 in Gironde, departments particularly affected by rising water levels.
An episode of exceptionally severe flooding
The flooding event recorded in February was marked by an exceptionally long red alert, set at fourteen days by Vigicrues (the French flood monitoring service). The maximum alert, initially triggered in Gironde and Lot-et-Garonne, subsequently extended to areas further north, notably Loire-Atlantique and Maine-et-Loire. Preventive evacuations were carried out, mobilizing approximately 1.500 people in Lot-et-Garonne and between 850 and 900 in Maine-et-Loire.
In Cheffes, a town of about a thousand inhabitants that was completely evacuated, the mayor spoke of the exhaustion of the local teams, while emphasizing the absence of casualties. He highlighted the proactive approach made possible by forecasting tools, which facilitated informing residents about the gradual flooding.
The authorities also emphasized the importance of anticipating and adapting to climate change. The example of the Angers metropolitan area, which uses computer simulations to monitor flooding and warn residents, is expected to be replicated. The government also announced that the majority of the Green Climate Fund would be allocated to territorial adaptation, with a doubling of resources dedicated to flood prevention.
