Nearly five years after the passage of the storm Xynthia to Blame-sur-Mer, Vendee, justice will attempt starting Monday to highlight the mistakes that led to the death of 29 people, are lodged in areas that have been unbuildable.
Until October 17th, it is a river five-week trial to be held in Les Sables d’Olonne, with more than 120 expected plaintiffs. Judgment is expected on December 12, nearly five years after the tragedy of February 28, 2010.
“We expect answers to our questions,” said Renaud Pinoit, president of the association of victims, the ‘Avif. “Why there were 2.80 meters of water in some areas of Blame Why 29 dead in such a small area, why we have not been advised of this storm right?” The victims and their families want “it does not happen again,” he says.
Fifty plaintiffs will testify at the helm in the first two weeks of trial. “It will be a rather complicated event, we will be there to support each other,” says Renaud Pinoit.
“Very few people stayed to Blame,” he explains, “There even are people who no longer want to live on the coast because the sound of water it scares them.”
29 dead, surprised in their sleep
On the night of February 27 to 28, 2010, a confluence of events caused by Xynthia provoked flooding of a dike and flooded dozens of homes built in an area that should have been classified red, so unbuildable, this town located on a spit of land between the ocean and estuary Lay.
The victims, mostly pensioners, who mostly ignored the danger which threatened , drowned, surprised at night by the rising waters, trapped in their homes or swept away by the muddy torrents.
Elected on the dock
On these grounds , subdivisions had grown, regardless of precautionary measures or even ban the authorities have been seeking for years to then mayor, René Marratier , elected 1989 to March 2014
This land belonged to some his first assistant town planning, Françoise Babin accused of having signed building permits in flood zones and houses walk-in defiance of the Town Planning Code.
The grounds were sold especially by the son of the latter, Philippe Babin, owner of a real estate agency … and also president of the association in charge of maintenance and surveillance of dams, submerged the night of the disaster by the rising waters
Most houses built in these New subdivisions ( bungalow for some) were by Enterprises Patrick Maslin, as Councilman and member of the planning commission of the municipality.
At the hearing, René Marratier “wants to tell his truth”, “he wants to publicly answer for his actions, face the charges,” he assured her lawyer, Antonin Levy.
“He regrets that we did not tell him clearly that we did not explain it simply that people could die” if not applied the measures demanded by the authorities assured me Lévy .
The first four defendants will be in the box with Alain Jacobsoone, at the time deputy departmental director Territory and the Sea , who are accused of having failed to alert the mayor about the dangers of the storm that promised, despite the request of the prefect.
What do they risk
five defendants are charged with aggravated manslaughter. The first four are also accused of endangering others by manifestly deliberate breach of a statutory obligation of safety or prudence. They face all up to five years in prison and 75,000 euros fine .
This trial must have “set an example” insisted the former minister Corinne Lepage , counsel for the Avif and 120 plaintiffs. The plaintiffs “want things to be said,” she says, stressing in this case the “weak state”, which failed to impose the common steps to avoid constructions risk.
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