These evacuations intervene fifteen days after the collapse of two buildings which caused the death of a person in the same sector. Three other buildings had also been evacuated by the town hall this week in another street, a few hundred meters.
mo12345lemonde with AFP
Three buildings, where seventeen people were, were evacuated on the night of Saturday 26 to Sunday 27 November in the center of Lille due to a “threat of collapse”, announced the firefighters, two weeks after the collapse of two buildings which caused the death of a man in the same sector.
Three other buildings had also been evacuated by the town hall this week in a street located a few hundred meters.
Saturday evening, the emergency services were called around midnight rue Lepelletier, a shopping artery in the heart of Old Lille, reported the firefighters in a statement. “A security perimeter has been [set up] and a jeopardy decree was written by the town hall of Lille,” they also specified.
“Cracking noises”
At the beginning of the morning, security barriers prohibited access to part of the street, noted a journalist from the France-Presse Agency (AFP). They thus closed the entrance to these three buildings, a restaurant and two shops located on the ground floor, as well as a jewelry and an optician opposite.
The emergency services “noted cracks in the adjoining wall” between the 28-30 and 32 numbers, explains the municipality in its decree plastered on the spot. “According to the employees of the L’Orange Bleue restaurant, the crack, which already existed (…), evolved by growing the last forty-eight hours with the fall of the cob” and “the noises of crackles were heard” at the end evening, specifies the text. The town hall therefore considered it necessary to “have access to access” to the three buildings, which have around forty apartments, and the two shops opposite until expertise is carried out, according to the decree.
On Wednesday, the municipality had evacuated two buildings from rue de la Monnaie, a few hundred meters. “Alerted by the trustee” of “the existence of structural issues” on one of the two buildings, the municipal services had seen “disturbing cracks”, explained the town hall to the AFP.
After an expertise, a third building, adjoining, had to be evacuated on Friday. In total, “about fifteen people” had to be relocated with the help of services, in hotels or with relatives, the same source said. Three shops located on the ground floor of buildings had to be closed.