Storm ALEX Hit Southeastern France

Ministère de la Défense, October 05, 2020 - In the afternoon of Friday October 2 storm ALEX hit France and in particular the Alpes-Maritimes department.

The rainfall in this area was exceptional and reached, in some places, records never recorded until now.

Given the extent of the damage caused by these bad weather, the civil authorities asked the armed forces for their assistance in coming to the aid of the civilian populations.

The missions requested are two types:

transport personnel and heavy equipment to areas cut off from any possibility of transport via the main roads. This mission includes the recovery of stranded people, the transport of civil security personnel and their heavy equipment, but also the transport of freight for the civilian population (water and food); carry out earthworks to clear the main roads in particular.

Thus, from October 3 at dawn, 2 PUMA and 2 CAIMAN from the Army's light aviation based in Luc were set up at Nice airport. These heavy helicopters immediately implemented their heavy transport capacities for the benefit of the populations.

They have already evacuated 220 civilians from Saint Martin Vésubie and Tende and have helped set up teams of military civil security units in these hard-hit towns. They also provided logistical transport of food and water for the benefit of local authorities. Other logistical missions are scheduled during the day, in particular the transport of generators, subject to weather conditions.

During the same day, an Engineer detachment from the 1st Foreign Engineer Regiment from Laudun l'Ardoise (Gard) arrived in the department to assess the format of the land detachment which will be deployed today.

As a reminder, it is also this regiment which intervened in Val d'Aigoual for this same type of mission following the bad weather which had affected the Gard on September 24th using earth moving machines.