According to the gendarmerie, this lady, “subject to discomfort, would have made a fall on the stairs and drowned” in his cellar. The North and Pas-de-Calais remain classified in orange vigilance “flood” until 6 hours Tuesday.
Le Monde with AFP
An octogenarian has been discovered dead in his flooded cellar, Monday, November 29, in Borre, in the North, placed in orange vigilance “flood” Sunday, according to information from the northern voice confirmed at the France-Press agency (AFP) by firefighters and the gendarmerie.
According to the gendarmerie, this lady, “subject to discomfort, would have made a fall on the stairs and drowned” in his cellar, where she was discovered in the morning. According to firefighters, the water was mounted at a height of 80 centimeters.
“This 88-year-old lady has certainly wanted to check the water level in her cellar and she had to fall and she knew how to get up, it’s really sad,” the mayor of Borre said, Bernadette Popelier, AFP. Yet, “the village is not overwhelmed with water,” she said.
Two departments still in orange vigilance
The North and the Pas-de-Calais remain classified in orange vigilance “flood” until 6 hours Tuesday, the difficulties concentrating in the plain of the Lys.
🔶 2 DPTS in #vigilanceorange
Stay informed about https://t.co/rj24zzmmy4 https://t.co/mlwjlgulixme
“Following the fallen rains since the night from Saturday to Sunday”, the water levels of the Lily continue their rise initiated since Sunday morning. “Even if the few additional rainfall occurred at night, from Sunday to Monday, have remained relatively small, the upward trend should continue during this day of Monday,” says The Vigicrune site
According to firefighters, in Vieux-Berquin, seven kilometers from Borre, the water level continued to rise on Monday and the water was about 20 centimeters in ten houses. A little further south, in Merville, the water level reached 30 centimeters. Drones had to be sent for recognition operations.
Many departmental roads, impassable, were also cut on Monday morning, in the north due to the bad weather, according to the departmental council. In Pas-de-Calais, firefighters have built 147 weather interventions on Sunday and Monday, according to the prefecture mid-day Monday.
Weathering have also resulted in the interruption of rail traffic all morning between Bethune and Saint-Pol-sur-Ternoise, due to a flooded crossing, to lazeuvrière.