The rain returned to Blendecques on Thursday, February 8, and so did Gabriel Attal. A month after his appointment, the prime minister made an emergency visit to the northern Pas-de-Calais region to "express the nation's solidarity" with a département, an administrative region in France, that had suffered catastrophic floods in November 2023 and again in January. He made a promise: "A solution will be offered to all French people affected by the floods. We will leave no one behind."

In Blendecques, which has a population of 5,000 and where 800 homes were severely damaged, the feeling of having been "abandoned" prevails. The département has once again been placed on orange alert for flooding, and the Aa river is once again threatening to overflow its banks. "We spend our time watching the national flood warning maps and the rain forecasts," explained Romain Blary, whose red brick house is less than 30 meters from the river. Big green sandbags, cinder blocks, tarpaulins, an electric pump, "and then, we cross our fingers."

So far, it hasn't been enough. The first time, the water rose to 30 centimeters, the second time to 82 centimeters and the third time to 77 centimeters. As a result, he had to "throw everything away": household appliances, furniture, drywall, heat pumps, a hot water tank. He had moved in in May. "A lot of houses have lost between 40% and 60% of their value or have simply become unmarketable, it's a real mess." Romain Blary knows what he's talking about – he's an estate agent. At "almost 40," he can't see himself going anywhere else, even if life has been "exhausting" for the last three months.

Aged 85 and 87 respectively, Marguerite Bultel and Alfred Desmarthes never expected to experience flooding on the scale of 2002. Their expectations were far exceeded. "We had a visit from the president after the first flood in November, but that didn't prevent the second one," said Marguerite. "They promise and promise, but we see nothing happening," added Alfred. "The experts have come, but we've received next to nothing."

The Bultel and Desmarthes families include electricians, bricklayers and plasterers. They're the ones who redid everything: the bedroom, the kitchen, the living room. "It's our house, but it doesn't feel like ours anymore," deplored Marguerite. The old wooden door has been replaced with PVC to better withstand another rise in water levels, and dozens of sandbags are piled up in the small garden. Alfred sleeps poorly: "At night, we're always afraid that the phone will ring telling us to leave."

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