“The Var in flood, is the flood risk prevention plan effective?”

Yesterday morning, following the severe weather affecting the department, the access roads near the Cadam and the Airport were closed and covered by the flood. The roads of Puget-Théniers were flooded, and some houses were at risk of flooding and landslides. The focus is on the P.P.R.I., which some criticize for its lack of reliability. What is the real situation?

We are experiencing a flood that should be minor as the flow of the Var river is at 1000 m³ of water and we have barely faced 24 hours of bad weather. Yet, we are seeing damage almost as severe as the flood of 1994 when the flow of the Var was between 3000 and 3500 m³.

The focus is on the P.P.R.I., which some criticize for its lack of reliability. The Alpes-Maritimes are still on orange alert with flood risks until this morning. The president of the General Council, Eric Ciotti, reported in a press conference, “the evacuation of about twenty houses in Puget-Théniers, as they are located in an area exposed by the weakening of a dam.”

The OIN Plaine du Var collective issues this alert to demonstrate the real risk of flooding and natural disasters on the O.I.N. Plaine du Var. They declare that the flooding of the Var river was predictable given the way risks were ignored.

Nadège Bonfils (spokesperson for this association):

“The O.I.N. Plaine du Var is made possible by the P.P.R.I. Basse Vallée du Var whose inefficiency is proven here.

Indeed, experiencing such severe flooding with a flow rate that does not exceed 1000 m³ is completely intolerable (the 1994 flood was estimated between 3000 and 3500 m³).

This is the consequence of increased soil artificialization and impermeabilization, coupled with increasingly significant digging of the Var’s riverbed.

All this to enable the urbanization of the Var plain by cementing fertile and flood-prone lands.

These floods prove what we have been denouncing since the P.P.R.I. was developed: the P.P.R.I. has not taken into account the studies of hydrologists nor the IPCC report, and we remind that the SAGE 2010-2015 is still not developed.”