It has been quite the Easter weekend here in Bellac. On a very rainy Good Friday around noon, we drove along the Vincou River and noticed that the river was running high. We knew there was some flooding back in very early March, but we didn't 't think twice about it at the time. The rain continued all evening and through part of the night. I woke up around 2 am and could not hear the rain on the roof any more. Thinking the storm was over, I rolled over and went back to sleep. As the sun was trying to rise around 7 am, we noticed the postings on Facebook about the flooding. We quickly dressed and headed down to the river, about a 5 minute walk. We couldn't believe our eyes. It was like a scene out of an apocalyptic movie. The river was washing over the ends of the 13th century stone bridge, with wooden palates and picnic tables stacked up on the upstream side. A little white car was nose down in the river, only stopped from flowing further down stream by a tree. We were told there was a second car submerged somewhere else in the river. The water level was up to the houses along the road. The patio of the pub was a swimming pool with more water washing up over the stone wall. The road to the bridge was flooded and we couldn't walk any further.
Later that afternoon we walked around and across another bridge further downstream and made our way to the north bank of the river. We could see that along with the sun, the water levels had begun to recede. People were out cleaning up as much as they could the debris that had washed down river and deposited all across the valley as the waters receded. The "pompiers" and crews from the electric company were all around ensuring everyone's safety. Cars that didn't get washed away, were being tended to by their owners attempting to dry them out. This second trip down revealed the severe damage done to the newest bridge, furthest to the east. The debris damaged the surface, and at this point we don't know about the rest of the structure. We noticed the raised planting boxes in a garden in the "goats' field" that had just been filled with dirt and early spring plantings, had been washed away into the fencing at the far side of the field. The saddest news of the day was that the four goats that have lived in the field for the past 16 years as a local's pets, perished in the deluge.
Today, Easter Monday, "le pont de Pierre" has been reopened to traffic and the mostly sunny skies have continued to ease the water levels. I'm sure as the water continues down stream and the Vincou River flows into the Vienne and then the Vienne into the Loire, flooding downstream will still be a serious issue.
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| The road in front of the Pub |
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| The patio of the Pub |
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| The end of our walk to the Pub |
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| Water cascading over pub wall |
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| Should be a road..... |
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Weir on the river near the tannery
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| The car in the river |
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| The Vincou River |
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| Le Pont de Pierre |
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| The river park |
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| The water has receded back over the river bank wall |
Video from Saturday morning.
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| The park |
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| View from the bridge |
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| The road past the pub |
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| The debris on the bridge |
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| Steve on the edge of the park |
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| View down on the bridge |
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| The newest bridge over the Vincou |
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| The Goats' Field |
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| A path in the park |
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| the Raging Vincou |
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| Back across The Goats' Field |
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The Benzine River before it flows into the
Vincou |
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| The Pont de Pierre |
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The Gripet from across the river. Our trek home from
the pub. |
