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2 min
Storm Aline passed through the Alpes-Maritimes. In Saint-Martin-de-la-Vésubie, it caused damage, in a town which has not forgotten the storm Alex of 2020.
The waters of the Vésubie are raging on Friday October 20. The flow jumped from 60 to 300 cubic meters per second and the river level rose much higher than expected. Buses, parked preventively to evacuate residents, were swept away by the torrent. One of the temporary bridges, built after the 2020 storm, gave way and the road that extends it was torn up.
Several evacuations
In the afternoon, firefighters evacuated several residents, harnessed to cross a weakened footbridge. Some are discouraged. “It’s quite heavy for us who live here all year round (…) every day we live in this slump and we are always in a state of emergency,” assures a woman. The infrastructures swallowed up by the river had been built while waiting for the major works. “We’re going back to square one, it’s unfortunate,” notes Yvan Mottet, mayor of Saint-Martin-la-Vésubie. Winds blowing at more than 140 km/h tore down many trees.