Thanks to a slow decline, Civil Protection volunteers begin pumping the cellars to “get people out of trouble”

“Did you have any in the house?” “Yes and you ?” If we have to speak a little loudly, Thursday January 4 in Wizernes (Pas-de-Calais), it is because the sound of the pumps buzzes throughout the small town. During the morning, the water level still reached 2.90 meters under the bridge leading to the paper mill. The department is still placed on red alert but the slow decline of the Aa, despite everything, has begun. It’s time to assess the damage and empty the submerged basements. A van has just parked in Rue du Foyer. While the wounds are still raw, Civil Protection volunteers play a valuable role among the population.

This time, they responded to the call of Francine Heduy, 87 years old. The former hairdresser tries to smile, but she is still stunned by the loss of her new boiler, drowned in the cellar. Sevan Rigaux is kneeling in the street, working on a pump. “There is a strainer at the end of the pipe so as not to suck up all the dirt, and we pulled a pipe which will empty into the sewer over there. Of course, we checked it beforehand, to do not flood other parts of the street.” The 17-year-old volunteer recites his score and begins a long day of interventions.

Basements submerged again

When the pump starts to purr, he primes it by emptying a bottle of water. A little later, the cellar regained its former appearance, and the freezer that was installed there stopped floating. It will take another hour to empty the room. But underground, water comes from all sides. “I have two bad newsfinally announces to the octogenarian Maxime Cailliet, also a volunteer. I can no longer close the window and there is still infiltration.” Hearing these last words, Francine Heduy begins to wobble, before collapsing in her chair. “My boiler, my boiler”, she repeats again. The old lady wanted so much to stay at home, after having been housed for five weeks with her daughter, during the last flood in November.

The scene inevitably touches Sevan Rigaux, who himself was forced to leave the family home de Frencq in November, because it was uninhabitable. And if the insurance companies will cover the electrical work in his house, estimated at around 7,500 euros, they will not replace his boiler, which was more than 10 years old. After having benefited from the help of Civil Protection himself, the high school student chose to become a volunteer for “get people out of trouble”.

This Thursday, he has already been on call for 72 hours. At the start of the week, he even found himself installing protective barriers in his own neighborhood, among his neighbors. This was not enough to prevent a new flood.

“We need young people who want to help. It’s also a pleasure to do it.”

Sevan Rigaux, 17 years old, Civil Protection volunteer

at franceinfo

A little further down the street, it is not uncommon to see small yellow or blue pipes coming out of houses. After the previous flood, many residents chose to acquire their own pumping equipment. This investment is now necessary, believes Thierry Demol, who manages the driving school. “We are going to have more, floods, the soils are waterlogged.” But you still need to have the means to make such a purchase. This resident paid 720 euros to invest in a generator and a booster – a type of water pump. At midday, he had already emptied his cellar and was now tackling the garden, which communicates with two other plots of land.