The spa resort of Cauterets found itself isolated this Friday evening. Following the bad weather that hit the southwest this weekend, several landslides on the D920 which connects Cauterets to Pierrefitte-Nestalas prevent them from reaching the village. Three successive landslides that the services of the department began to release, but the night interrupted operations. They will resume this Saturday morning in order to clear the way. The landslides affected the communication networks, further complicating the task.
A reinforcement of firefighters
The first of the three landslides, the one located furthest from Cauterets, was completely cleared this Friday around 5 p.m. The second, much larger, which extends over 4 meters high and about sixty meters long still blocks access to the station. Especially sincea third landslide, the one located closest to the station, is the most important (7 to 8 meters high, depending on the departmental services). The city services have started to clear it, starting from Cauterets, but the work will have to continue this Saturday morning.
To make matters worse, these landslides affected the telephone networks and the Internet, making communication particularly difficult between Cauterets and the departmental services who are working to clear the road. Everything should nonetheless return to order in the morning, this Saturday. The Hautes-Pyrénées prefecture specifies that the department’s firefighters have “Reinforced the Cauterets emergency center to ensure medical emergencies, in conjunction with the pharmacy, the doctor and the nurses in the town. A person on dialysis was evacuated by the emergency services with the support of the gendarmerie helicopter“.