Floods

Aude 11:00 A.M. just beyond the Notre-Dame-de-la-Sante chapel

I haven't written a post in a while--I have actually been doing household chores like crazy and getting ready for cooler weather--one day it will eventually get here. Since my last post, there have been some major events here in Carcassonne and surrounding areas.

Caution tape--don't go down there

Some people may already be aware of the devastating floods that hit the Aude region on the night of October 13-14.  I have seen markers that show the level to which the waters of the Aude River rose in past innundations and could not begin to imagine how on Earth that could have possibly happened.  Well, that Monday morning I saw with my own eyes just how it happened and it awed me.

Looking up rover

We had been having a bizarre autumn; the weather had been relentlessly humid and warm.  The forecasters warned of a "Mediterranean event" to start late Sunday night.  Around 10 P.M., they were proven correct.  The rains began and hard.  

Rough water flows through one of the arches

I was not asleep, thankfully, and heard the first plip-plops of a drip from my bedroom ceiling.  That had never happened before.  I got up, moved my antique wash stand with its wide basin under the leak to contain it and protect my rug.  Then I went to check the other parts of the apartment.  I had had a leak the prior Wednesday when we had a sudden, but brief, downpour.  No leak in that spot this time, but in the bathroom--oh dear, the water was nearly pouting through the overhead light fixture.  I gathered by bigges cooking pots and placed them strategically underneath, took up the sodden bathroom rug, replaced it with a dry one and returned to my bed for a very restless night's sleep.  I could hear the rain beating down, just like it used to do during the rainy season in Brookings, Oregon.  I know a coastal storm when I hear one, and this storm was definitely of marine origin.  No lightnig, no thunder, just wave after wave of downpours....I had tyo empty the pots under the bathroom leak at least three times during the night.

Water is close to the top of the arches. bridge closed to pedestrians

The rain stopped shortly after sunrise on Monday morning.  I cwas still getting some sporadic dripping.  A knock came at the door--it was my downstairs neighbors.  They, too had leaks--and they are not even under a roof.  It wasn't coming from me--nothing was leaking through my floors.  I imagine that there was a gap between the roof and the wall, and the water ran down the inside and made its way into their apartment.  Everyone in the building, no matter which floor they occupied, had leaks.  The rain was that extraordinary. 

There's always one who thinks the rules are not for her

At one point, Patrice told me that school had been canceled...hadn't I heard?  The Aude region was on red alert, bridges and roads were washed out.  Trebes was particularly hard hit and people had died, been swept away from their beds when the waters rose too quickly for them to escape

I went out with my camera, down to the Aude.  The Pont Vieux was closed to foot traffic, and soon enough all the bridges into Carcassonne were closed.  Shopes and restaurants never opened, or closed early when the bridges were closed, because their workers couldn't get in or management wanted to send those who did make it in in the early hours home to their families before the bridges closed.  The Bastide was a ghost town by the afternnon.

Carcassonne itself excaped largely undamaged.  There was a restaurant terrace up in the walled city that collapsed when the underlying ground slid out.  The hospital, built in the flood plain, was full of water.  Lots of people I talked to had major damage from leaks--collapsed ceilings, flooded basements.  I have yet to talk to anyone who did not have a leak.

By 4:00 the waters had begun to recede

But other, outlying areas were not so fortunate.  Bridges failed, and now some of these towns are cut in two.  Cars were tossed about like tubber ducks.  The Aude climbed out of its banks and up the steps of St, Martin's church in Limoux. The damage is estimated in the hundreds of millions of Euros, and there were 14 people killed, countless injured and displaced.

I love how the communities are rallying around to help one another.  The newspapers launched the first drive for clothing and household items, especially warm and dry bedding.  Restaurants launched their own food drives, and community government agencies got shelters opened and started collecting and distributing needed supplies right away.  Brigades of volunteers helped with mopping and shoveling out peoples' homes and businesses.  Presidernt Macron was here within a week with aid--not loans, and not rolls of paper towels, but real aid to people and communities to repair buildings, roads, bridges and to get life back to normal.

Still muddy and swift, but not as high

The Aude is back in its banks as are the other rivers and streams that caused so much damage.  Some areas got as much as 8 inches of rain in less than 10 hours.  That's a lot of water and there was no place for it to go.  Gradually, train travel is being restored, and detours are being set up while riads are repaired.  I am impressed with the speed and compassion with which this has been done.  

Grey skies, brown water

I just don't want a repeat any time soon.