Heavy rains hit much of southern France between Sunday and Monday, flooding the city of Aix-en-Provence and leaving France's second-largest city, Marseille, under a blanket of garbage that had piled up in the streets. streets after a garbage collectors strike.
Thousands of cans full of garbage Marseillesthe popular Borély beach, along with lots of plastic and rubber tires. Some volunteers working to clean up the area even collected dead rats.
“This happens often in Marseille. Every year, around the same time, we have garbage on the beach due to the rain, but this time there was also a garbage collectors' strike, ”Isabelle Poitou, spokesperson for the environmental group MerTerre, told the AFP news agency. .
According to Meteo France, the national meteorological service, "the equivalent of several months of rain" hit Marseille between Sunday and Monday. After the Huveaune River overflowed, the largest wasted items, such as gas bottles, refrigerators and car parts, were added to the piles of garbage that were accumulating.
"All the trash started to pile up and was washed away by the torrent this morning and blocked the sewers," said one homeowner who declined to give his name.
Marseille's deputy mayor, Christine Juste, spoke of "scenes of horror", with some city officials blaming the disaster on the previous administration.
"They continued to build concrete everywhere," said Marseille urban planner Mathilde Chaboche, adding that previous officials had ignored the fact that "nature needs space for water to flow."
In the city of Aix en Provence, the water itself was a bigger problem and rescuers had to get people to safety when flooding turned backyards into small lakes.
"It's sad and there is nothing we can do about it," said one resident. "When the rain falls like this, we cannot resist, it is impossible."
(FRANCE 24 with AFP)
