• After a succession of bad weather in the South-West, many dikes are on the verge of breaking due to rising water levels. Some have already given way along the Garonne, and others are threatening to do so. To find out, the TF1 news went near Marmande.

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Storms, thunderstorms, floods… the weather is getting carried away in France

After a succession of bad weather this week in France, including the violent storm Nils, the Garonne was kept on red alert for floods this weekend in Gironde and in Lot-et-Garonne, in a context of “generalized flooding” in France, exceeding records, according to Vigicrues. In Aiguillon, for example, early this Saturday morning, a dike gave way under the pressure of the water, in the middle of the valley. At the bottom of the town, a large cofferdam is now the last rampart. “We are all watching for this, we all have our eyes glued to the levels. If it goes up, we worry,” says a resident in the 1 p.m. report above.

This dike, in terms of flooding, is very important for us. If we didn’t have that, the context would mean that the water would arrive much faster.

Christian Larribière, volunteer firefighter in Jusix (Lot-et-Garonne)

In the Garonne plain, forged by the river, nearly 100 km of dikes protect 4,000 people. “Under this large expanse of water, there is a whole system of dams and dikes which make it possible to channel the Garonne. And as soon as one of these dikes gives way, it weakens the entire system,” indicates TF1 journalist Erwan Braem. The village of Jusix is ​​right in the middle of this stretch of water, accessible only by boat. This Friday, February 13, a rumor spread: had the dike also broken?

The two village firefighters, Christian and Aymeric Larribière, went to check this Saturday morning. According to them, the dike is holding up. “The Garonne makes a U, it goes around the village. If the dike breaks, it would create a torrent and the Garonne would return to its natural bed. With the rumors that there were yesterday, all the houses that you have in the axis of this dike were worried about, in the end, nothing”, explains Aymeric. “This dike, in terms of flooding, is very important for us. If we didn’t have that, the context would mean that the water would arrive much more quickly,” adds Christian.

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Only the earthen dike allows residents to stay and live there, as in Couthures-sur-Garonne. “The dike under the pressure of the water can give way. Hence the interest in maintaining these dikes absolutely. That is to say that there are things which could not exist, which exist today without these dikes. Farms, traders, homes which have always been there”, underlines Laurent Martineau, deputy mayor. After the last major flood in 2021, dike repairs cost 7 million euros. The cost of the work to ensure their sustainability would be four times higher.

The editorial staff of TF1info | Report: Erwan BRAEM and Christophe BROUSSEAU