Devastating Damage Caused by Storm Ciarán in Coutances: Interview with Étienne Savary, Assistant to the Town of Coutances

From Coutançais to Port-Bail-sur-Mer (Manche), the damage caused the storm Ciarán were considerable. Coutances is one of the hardest hit municipalities.

Around fifty agents from technical services, green spaces and sports are on deck, with weeks of work ahead of them. Damage review with Étienne Savary, 3^e assistant to the Town of Coutances.

Actu : The first damage we think of is the lightning rod at the town hall…

Étienne Savary: Yes indeed, it still threatens to collapse. On Thursday, the firefighters first tried to intervene, then the roofers. The problem is that the conditions were not yet favorable on the one hand, and that the lightning rod was located very high up on the other hand. That doesn’t make things any easier. We have set up a security perimeter which extends almost over the entire half of the cathedral square, and therefore the town hall.

Is the cathedral doing well?

AND. S. : Yes, she held on. The scaffolding was a little weakened, but it held. On the other hand, there is damage to the roof and structure of Saint-Pierre church.

Lots of damaged roofs

What are the other major damages?

AND. S. : Regarding roofs, many private roofs were damaged. There is also that of the Jacques-Prévert college, which is heavily damaged, the health center and the Prison Integration and Probation Service, the SPIP, which is also severely impacted. There are also several chimneys that are in danger of falling. We have also set up security perimeters in certain streets. There is no secret, they will have to be brought down. But the difficulty is that they are very high and difficult to access. There are also seriously damaged cars.

What about the trees?

AND. S. : The number of fallen trees is colossal. There are frankly everywhere, broken, uprooted, torn or weakened. There too, no secret, they will have to be shot down. Especially since we are still expecting a lot of wind this weekend. In the Claires-Fontaines district, at the station, rue des Seringas, at the Albert 1st monument… They are everywhere, it’s impressive. As for the public garden, which is closed, we have to take stock of the green spaces on Friday afternoon, but we already know that there is damage. We will reopen it when the situation is calmer.

Some places are flooded…

AND. S. : The Pont-de-Soulles district is flooded and this is not common. There was an impressive rise in water levels. Luckily, all this should work out because the coefficients are less strong this weekend. We had heavy rain during the night from Thursday to Friday, we hope it will be less heavy now. A priori, I say a priori, from now on, everything should move in the direction of improvement.

The importance of municipal agents

We imagine the agents on the front line…

AND. S. : Yes ! They do a remarkable job. They are the ones most to be pitied. Some interrupted their leave spontaneously to lend a hand to their colleagues. There is solidarity. They are great. There are still several weeks of work to come to get everything back to normal.

Have there been power cuts in Coutances?

AND. S. : Some neighborhoods are still deprived of it but honestly, it is not much compared to the surrounding communities. In Loret, in Marigny, in Gratot, in Cambernon… People from Gratot came to recharge their phones at the town hall of Coutances.

Did you expect such an impact?

AND. S. : We always expect something when such an impressive storm is forecast, but no, we didn’t expect so much damage. The more time passes, the more people report things to us, the more we realize the extent of the situation.

Have you received reinforcements?

AND. S. : Yes, 20 firefighters from Nogent-le-Rotrou came as reinforcements to Coutances on Thursday and reinforcements from civil protection came from Cherbourg. There are a lot of interventions on many subjects, everyone is overwhelmed.

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