Major project to rebuild sea walls

FIVE years of work improving sea defences along the French coast have been promised to avoid a repeat of last weekend's deadly floods.

The government has announced the setting up of a task-force which will inspect 1,350km of sea walls in the coming weeks. A report on the reinforcements that need to be made will be handed to ministers by early May.

It was the collapse of an ageing sea wall on the Vendée coast that triggered the massive flood on Sunday morning that submerged houses under 1.5 metres of sea water and killed 30 people. In total, last weekend's storms and floods claimed the lives of 52 people across France.

The disaster has reignited the debate about town-planning and whether building permission shoudl have been given for homes in flood zones. More than 800 communes on the French coast have properties below sea-level, protected by sea defences.

Junior Ecology Minister Chantal Jouanno said the financing for the reinforcement work had not yet been finalised. The improvements could cost about €1.35bn.

Other measures planned include a better warning system for coastal homes in the event of hazardous weather conditions and tougher rules on new property developments on floodplains.

One town on the banks of the Loire has already started taking action to protect itself against floods - by announcing the demolition of hundreds of homes that should never have been built.

Blois, in the Loir-et-Cher, is pulling down 250 properties on the river floodplain after reaching the conclusion that river defences alone were not enough to protect the town.

The local council has been buying up homes in the area for the past six years with the aim of knocking them down. Most residents have left, but a number of elderly people have refused to leave their family home.

Photo: Digues du Marais - Philippe Devanne - Fotolia.com