A real deluge fell on the town of Estables, at the foot of Mézenc. Nearly 320 liters of rain per square meter fell between Tuesday and Thursday.
The runoff created real waterways. They first descended the slopes of the Mézenc and Alambre mountains, before digging their furrows in the paths, then gullying the edges of the tarmac roads. The paths have let slip the pebbles and stones that compose them.
The flow of water carrying these materials became too large for the nozzles of the rainwater network. Some got clogged at the bottom of the ski slopes, others exploded. Water entered some homes, overturning at least one fuel tank which left a smell of hydrocarbons in the alleys. An apartment, where a tenant was located, was crossed from one side to the other by a one meter high flood. “The lady opened the door so that the water drained to the other end of her apartment. » The place is now uninhabitable. On Thursday, the mayor decided to have a trench dug to improvise a drain and thus protect the east of the village.
The deputy Laurent Wauquiez, is explained by the mayor of Estables, Philippe Brun, the passage of water in an apartment in the village.
“There is a 500 mm nozzle which broke in front of the tourist office”, explained Friday, the mayor of the commune Philippe Brun, to the prefect Yvan Cordier and to the deputy Laurent Wauquiez, who came to see the damage through them. same.
The entire path built in recent years to go to the mill, below the multipurpose room, was washed away. Only part of the footbridge, a few picnic tables and the dry toilets remain.
The recent developments located at the bottom of the village were swept away.
The mayor and technical teams are hard at work. “We will try to put the water back into their network. The top of the village is repaired, but not yet the bottom. »
The damage on public roads extends over a significant area. They are estimated, for the moment, “between €150,000 and €200,000”.
Celine Demars
The Department’s roads service was doing its best to restore as many roads as possible.
