In Ribérac, tarpaulins have replaced the tiles on the roofs. All the roofs were damaged by the bad weather on June 20, said Mayor Nicolas Platon. On the market which resumed on Friday June 25, a few days later, the stalls were there but sparse. There are a few tourists and a lot of locals like Sylvie. She has boots on her feet. Since the violent hailstorms, she has been sleeping in the basement because the water has flooded the bedrooms on the first floor and the beds: “we can see that the market is sad […] We hold on because we have to, we must not give up […] but it’s hard, it’s an experience not to relive, it’s very very traumatic”.
“It’s the first time in my life that I’m so scared”
At Sonia’s, the roof has already been covered but she is struggling to recover morally from this episode. She had to sleep at a friend’s in the evening of the bad weather because she could not go home until the early morning. Her husband was very worried and she could not warn him because there was no longer a telephone network. For several days, they remained without news with his family and friends: “We had no power for four days, no hot water, no network. People saw it on TV but they didn’t know if we were fine or not.”
Claudine comes to buy a prepared meal. She tells the merchant who is not from the area that night, the hailstones as big as golf balls “it was horrible, it was really the apocalypse, it’s the first time in my life that I’m so scared”. The images remain in mind like the sounds.
Claude had the impression of hearing noises of “submachine guns” that night. This inhabitant comes to do some shopping before going to readjust the tarpaulins on his roof. Claude talks about trauma, everyone here talks about it. Valérie is with her two grandsons, she takes care of them because the parents have lost everything and they manage the phone calls to the insurance and the damage: “We arrived from Vendée to help and support them and I’m going to stay longer than planned because I can’t leave them like that. It disturbed the children a lot, they heard the hailstones, the thunderstorms. The biggest he came this morning because he heard the rain and he said to me “Grandma, there’s a storm, I’m scared”.
The mayor asks for reinforcements for psychological support
The mayor of Ribérac asks for additional psychological help for the inhabitants who now have “nerves that let go”. The firefighters’ psychologists and the medico-psychological unit have been mobilized but for Nicolas Platon, even more resources are needed and in the long term because there are inhabitants who have not reported themselves when they need support. The mayor fears “disasters”.