Emmanuel Macron has paid a visit to the Pas-de-Calais region on Tuesday, in which he promised a €50 million "support fund" for the department's local authorities.
ADVERTISEMENTThe region has recently been devastated by several days of rain causing rising waters and flooding. Local residents are exhausted and fear that the waters will rise again.
Another "exceptional support fund" for farmers affected by the storm will be launched including those in Brittany and Normandy.
The President also announced from a gymnasium in Saint-Omer, the classification of 244 communes as natural disasters, 214 in the Pas-de-Calais, and "around thirty in the Nord".
According to the Prefect of the Pas-de-Calais, Jacques Billant, 5,000 homes have been affected by the "exceptional" flooding, and "1,400 people evacuated" since the 6th of November, including, "four slight injuries".
The Head of State is due to visit a farm in Saint-Omer, then Blendecques, a commune particularly affected by the flooding of recent days.
The water rose to more than a metre in the municipality, where 32 streets and 862 houses were affected.
"It's all very well for Mr Macron to come and see. But we have to act", said Corinne Baroux, a resident who had come to help the victims in the gymnasium provided.
"My priority is to help my friends, to help the people who are destitute, who have nothing left, the children who are there, waiting in a room", she added.
Near Saint-Omer, where the water is "still over a metre high in some houses", the Red Cross has decided to reinstall accommodation centres, according to Fabienne Berquier, president of the association in the Pas-de-Calais region.