The ministry’s road services built a temporary road in the hamlet of Héas to move machinery to Maillet and allow animals to come down from their summer pastures. The few remaining residents there still have no water, electricity or telephone.
In the hamlet of Héas, mechanical excavators and dump trucks are busy on Tuesday 18, following the flood that occurred on the Gave on September 6 and 7. On the departmental roads, the departmental council is carrying out emergency work. “We have created a temporary rail so that the machines can be installed above the departmental area. We are now making this road a little cleaner and creating a platform to lay riprap to protect the future road from flooding,” summarizes Guillaume Sabatier, head of road services for the Luz sector.
The temporary road also allows breeders to bring their animals from summer pastures in Troumouse.
A few meters further on we walk along municipal roads. Construction equipment is also operating near the church and La Munia Inn. It’s the same at the Auberge du Maillet.
Although around 60 people were evacuated from the Héas Valley by the emergency services, some of them refused to be cared for and remained there. With the networks gone, they are living without water, electricity or telephones. “For water we use a water barrel that goes down the pipe to the house. We feed ourselves in a small stream. We have a generator for electricity. We use it for the minimum, consuming €30 a day. We will stay until November 20. There is a transformer in the first house of Enedis. If they put up ten temporary poles in the chapel, everyone will have light. Telephony will be more complicated. But one of the Orange employees told me that they will try to bring them to the La Munia boarding house temporarily. We are lucky, the old landline works. For us, it is not a sad situation. There were no deaths,” confesses philosopher Daniel Labit.
“A major loss of activity”
At the La Munia hostel, Soizic Plat looks a little sad and worried: “We were informed that the work to restore the networks will start next spring. I was told that I had to leave. For me, the end of the season is over. I am particularly worried about the upcoming season, since I opened in April and I don’t know when I will be able to open again. This represents a huge loss of business. The end of the season is generally very good. If I don’t have a phone to tell my customers when I will be able to reopen, it will be complicated to start reopening with customers. The municipality provided me with a small generator and brought me water to drink. I bring water from the river in buckets for convenience. It is only September 18, so we have time to work. I would like the work to start faster. Enedis says they will restore the electricity, but we don’t see anyone working. I think temporary solutions are possible to have electricity and water. Then there will be major works next year, I understand, but we need to be able to live and work here.”
On behalf of the prefect of Argelès-Gazost, Fabien Tuleu, we emphasize that “we respect the freedom of those who choose to stay there.” On the other hand, Fabien Tuleu does not recognize himself in the criticism of the abandonment and neglect of the Héas residents. “They have been offered alternative solutions. I respect their attitude that they will not back down. And that is even if our concern is that people will be put in new danger. The reopening in the spring is a real cause for concern because for some there is exploitation behind it. We will be particularly careful with this reopening.”
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