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The aftermath of the storm.


Bugsy
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I can see that it is going to be very difficult for the emergancy services to know just how many have died ...

We all tend to "Batten down the hatches " in bad weather and retreat behind closed shutters..Knowing the area as I do there are many holiday homes owned by people from all over France there as well as us second home owners  from the UK ....all. mixed in with the residents .

How are they going to know if there  is no car in the drive to indicate occupation if people are  inside or not ?.

I hope the many who are now homeless have found a place to stay..Perhaps the many static caravan sites in the area will have opened up for them and also people who rent their holiday homes while the village residents recover from this tragedy .

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France Info reported this evening about the lotissement next to the Camping Les Flots Bleus.Turn left after crossing the bridge from Aiguillon to La Faute.

In this one residential estate  26 bodies have been removed , a further 15 bodies have been located for recovery on Monday.

The houses which have been checked have Red crosses on them and the letters Vu.

The report can be followed from the France Info site at:

http://www.france-info.com/france-regions-2010-02-28-la-tempete-xynthia-une-catastrophe-nationale-411585-9-13.html#

Scroll down to second report and click on Yellow/Black Arrow; the report will commence in the Info Player.

People had to break through holes in their roofs to escape to the roof to avoid drowning in the middle of the night.

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[quote user="sweet 17"]

[quote user="Bugsy"]Shocking news now the death toll in france has reached 45 and still some people missing.

BBC News

I'm almost ashamed to admit that I was worrying about a few bloody roof tiles this morning.
.
[/quote]

I know, Bugs, puts it all into perspective, doesn't it?

[/quote]

YES ................. Just like Bugs, I feel ashamed about complaining earlier about a few tiles and a tree .......

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It's truly terrible that people have died in the storm, and it's even more sad that people could be missing but not known about.

It really does put things into proportion for us all.

For those of you with damage to property, I do hope all will be put right soon. I think we've had a pretty good roll call; one or two others left I think; let's hope they're 'just' without electricity.

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Terribly shocking...

We were told by our neighbours that there would be a 'tempete' at 11am and sure enough, on the dot, half the Sunday market right on the waterfront started to take off into the air. By high tide at noon the normally tranquil bay was a raging sea. I think all fine in the town, however, and it is so calm and sunny this morning that it's hard to believe it even happened. Going out for a look around the town but I think we got off very lightly in comparison to what others are going through.
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We live near Moutiers les Mauxfaits. If anyone needs their property looked at within a reasonable distance of here then email me and I'll try to go and have a look. At this end of the week I'd prefer not to go to La Faute or Aiguillon as they will already be full of rubberneckers.

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What a tragedy...

I really feel for everyone in France who has suffered in this awful weather. So many lives lost and so many of them apparaently all in one place. very, very sad.

In dept 37, my wonderful 82-year-old French next-door-neighbour has checked out our house and assured me all is well. He did make an attempt at propping up our Eucalyptus tree, but lost the battle and it has gone for it. But what a small price to pay compared with so many folk...
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[quote user="Frenchie"][quote user="sweet 17"]

[quote user="Bugsy"]Shocking news now the death toll in france has reached 45 and still some people missing.

BBC News

I'm almost ashamed to admit that I was worrying about a few bloody roof tiles this morning.
.
[/quote]

I know, Bugs, puts it all into perspective, doesn't it?

[/quote]

YES ................. Just like Bugs, I feel ashamed about complaining earlier about a few tiles and a tree .......

[/quote]

 

My thoughts entirely. Doesn't Mother Nature always give us poor mortals a lesson in humility.

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pachapapa

said

"In this one residential estate  26 bodies have been removed , a

further 15 bodies have been located for recovery on Monday.

The houses which have been checked have Red crosses on them and the

letters Vu."

The news of so many deaths is awful,  almost sinister and perhaps like something one would expect duirng a war.

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Benjamin   I have been told the roads have been closed off by the rescue people .. I have been looking at the local news reports this morning ..I far as I can tell with my limited French water is stilll coming in with each hign tide ..and the National Disaster order is being issued ASAP and EU funding from that budget has been requested .So hopfully they can get on fast and repair the damaged sea wall .
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In Indre we had a howling gale (132 km/h)  from about 11 on Saturday night, the power was off until 11pm on Sunday. My friend about 5 miles away still has no power. We have some tiles off the house and the carport, but nothing major for us. The worst thing was not knowing when it would end and the frustration of having no power to continue the latest project. When you realise how bad it was for others you're just grateful not to be in their position. The people of the coastal areas of Vendée and Charente Maritime have my utmost sympathy, it isn't finished yet for them.

FairyNuff

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My thoughts are with all the families who have lost loved ones and had flood damage to their homes. It must be devastating to go through something like that.

Our neighbours at our house near Mirambeau are going round to check our place this afternoon as we have a large manor house next door to us with chimneys tied on with goodness knows what and I am worried they may have fallen onto the "blind side" of our house. The house also has large cracks in the sides and it always looks as if it will fall any minute [:'(]

We are coming back in 3 weeks for our 4 month sojourn and hope everything is ok in our locality as it is mostly a farming community with lots of vineyards that could get damaged buy the high winds.

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[quote user="Frederick"]

http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=fr&u=http://www.lavoixdunord.fr/&ei=Gr2LS6HEDJT00gT_6YzVCw&sa=X&oi=translate&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CBIQ7gEwAA&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dla%2Bvoix%2Bdu%2Bnord%26hl%3Den

A Google translation of one news report that brings home what these poor elderly residents have gone through .

[/quote]

Open the report for the picture of the old lady sitting on the bed

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Was at our house in the Golf quarter over the weekend.

Very noisy saturday night but all calm by Sunday morning.

Only saw minor tree branch damage on the roads from St. Jean up to Nantes airport later Sunday morning. Saw no flooding in the St. Jean area.
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There has been some interesting TV footage of La Faute Sur Mer and the other affected areas,  there will be a compilation of the reports on Fr3 Journal at 22.30 tonight.

Watching the footage shot from the helicopter at presumably marée haute you can see clearly that the ground level of the lotissment is a couple of metres below sea level, maybe they should have named it La Faute Sous Mer.

They showed some archive footage from 2008 when after the first (IIRC) 100 house had been built a ban on granting any further PDC's in this zone inondable was imposed on the grounds of safety.

They then showed an interview with the Maire who was against the decision and wanted the building to continue, when pressed he admitted "well I cant be 100% certain that there will never, ever, be a flood but there is practically no chance of it ever happening and all we would need to do is add another couple of rangèes de parpaings"

His ignorance of hydrology was only exceeded by his ignorance of construction as it was an earth digue that was holding back the sea unlike overlapping plate pile construction used elsewhere.

Anyone but a complete cretin would on viewing the helicopter footage, say - "no way would I feel safe living there", equally anyone viewing a property would only need to scramble up to the top of the digue to see the relative levels of the sea and the lotissement.

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"And hardly a mention in the

British media ........... well, the BBC.

Many deaths, injuries & flooding, just across the Channel, and

hardly a word. They're more interested in, well just about anything

else."

And no mention on the whole on this Forum  of the much greater disaster in Chile.

Of course for well heeled second home owners, or immigrants shielded by temporary wealth something like this is shocking, because it could have happened to them, whereas frequent reports of death and disaster that affect 'lesser breeds' in other continents don't count.

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Thanks afb for your reply about St Jean  - hopefully we shall be OK - we will be over in 3 weeks so will find out for sure then .  We have heard from friends on same camp site and they have heard that  it

hasnt flooded  but there is quite a lot of debris !!!  . I just hope it doesnt consist of my smashed up van and decking !!!!! .

I cant believe that it hasnt been mentioned on BBC   . 

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