Yannick Carpentier stands motionless on his doorstep, barefoot in his plastic flip-flops, his eyes riveted on the water rushing down rue Adrien-Danvers in Arques, near Saint-Omer (Pas-de-Calais). It's 9 a.m. on Wednesday, January 3, and everyone here knows that it won't stop anytime soon. There's nothing to be done but wait for the flood to wreak its havoc. Above a certain height and flow rate, the water from the Basse-Meldyck, fed by the Aa river, becomes uncontrollable.
Over time, the Carpentiers have developed reflexes. The couple had been watching for rising water since last night, and knew what to expect. "We had to deal with it back in November. When the mayor posted a message on his Facebook page asking us to evacuate our cars, we understood," Aurore said. So they pulled out the sandbags that were distributed by the city during the floods of November 11, 2023.
Aurore, a caregiver for the elderly, received a call from her manager telling her she didn't have to work on Wednesday. A welcome bit of news, as she had more important things to do. "I was on the lookout for the municipal employees and negotiated for about ten bags to protect the disused commercial premises next door. Last time, the water from their place came to ours through the walls." Water mixed with mud and gas when the tanks at the Intermarché filling station, 220 yards away, overflowed. A foul smell.
A little further on, a civil defense and crisis management vehicle at Nogent-le-Rotrou (Eure-et-Loir) awaits the officer, who is taking stock of the situation with local firefighters. He has driven all night to be ready to start work this morning, like a hundred others that have just arrived to reinforce the department. A municipal tractor continues distributing sand to threatened residents. Too late for part of the neighborhood, where the rushing water is already brushing the doorsteps.
A man arrives from the flood zone, laden with large shopping bags full of clothes. His wife, who is "afraid of the water," retrieves them to put them in a dry place directly on the ground. He goes back without boots, with muddy water up to his hips, to try to save what he can at his son's house, flooded for the second time.
The couple came from Longuenesse, 3 miles from Arques, to "help the kid." "In November, he lost his car, classified as a write-off by the insurance company. "We were told that the region would pay for the excess, but that only works for homes," his mother explained. All this, plus a death in the family during the holidays, "it's too much, we can't take any more," they lamented.
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