Heavy rains flood houses, fields, force evacuation in northern France

Robert Besser
16 Nov 2023, 22:09 GMT+10

Overflowing rivers caused by heavy rains in northern France have flooded houses and fields and forced the evacuation of residents, with some being airlifted to safety
More than 100 towns in the region are on red alert, and around 200 schools have been closed
Meanwhile, strawberry farmer Jean-Loup Mionnet said next spring's harvest was compromised, stressing he will have few to no strawberries

PARIS, France: Overflowing rivers caused by heavy rains in northern France have flooded houses and fields and forced the evacuation of residents, with some being airlifted to safety.

More than 100 towns in the region are on red alert, and around 200 schools have been closed.

"It is catastrophic," said 32-year old poultry farmer Gaetan Guche, who added that the flood waters had killed some of his chickens, and he feared the spread of disease amid the humidity.

"We have to wait for the water to go down before we can see the whole damage. But I have had losses in chickens, financial losses in terms of seeds and equipment, and so today, it is really hard," he said.

Meanwhile, strawberry farmer Jean-Loup Mionnet said next spring's harvest was compromised, stressing he will have few to no strawberries.

"We have never seen something like that," said campsite owner Jean-Marc Joyez in the affected village of Enquin-sur-Baillons.

Dozens of towns would be considered in a situation of natural disaster, which makes it easier for those whose homes or businesses were flooded to benefit from insurance coverage, said Environment Minister Christophe Bechu.

Watch latest videos

News RELEASES

Publish news of your business, community or sports group, personnel appointments, major event and more by submitting a news release to The UK News.

More Information

-2 ℃

Partly Cloudy in Newham

International

Section

12 crew members reported missing as Cargo ship sinks off Greek island

LESBOS, Greece: Greek authorities said a cargo ship sank off the island of Lesbos over the weekend during a storm, ...

Bird flu forces culling of 1.35 million chickens on Ohio egg farm

COLUMBUS, Ohio: To stop the spread of bird flu, more than 1.3 million chickens will be killed on Ohio's Union ...

Israel accused of targeting reporters and their families

In a devastating turn of events, Israel's war on Gaza, sparked by Hamas's unprecedented attacks on October 7, has resulted ...

Candidate wins election in Louisiana by 1 vote where 43,000 voted

BATON ROUGE, Louisiana: In a Louisiana election where more than 43,000 people cast their ballots, a candidate for parish sheriff ...

CSX train derails in Kentucky, spills molten sulfur causing a fire

LIVINGSTON, Kentucky: This week, railroad operator CSX said a train derailment involving 16 cars, two of which spilled molten sulfur ...

Journalists and families taking heavy toll in Gaza

Fifty-seven journalists have been killed as of Saturday as a result of Israel's war on Gaza, which has extended to ...

Football

Section