Dilapidated sea wall, Xynthia storm damages, Angoulins, Poitou-Charentes, France. Photo source: ©© Thierry llansades
Excerpts;
The French state prosecutor has called for the mayor of La Faute-sur-mer to serve four years in prison, 3 years of jail and 1 year suspended sentence, and pay a 30,000 euros fine…
Xynthia : trois ans ferme requis contre l’ancien maire de La Faute-sur-Mer, Le Figaro
Xynthia Deadly Storm: The Trial Opens, (09-15-2014)
Four years after a deadly storm devastated part of France west coast, killing 29 people in La Faute sur Mer town, the trial opens. Four elected officials and a real estate agent are indicted for aggravated manslaughter…
La Faute-sur-Mer and l’Aiguillon-sur-Mer beaches, Vendée, France; By Claire Le Guern
The very last day of February 2010. It is 4:00 am. Howling winds, whipping rains, infuriated seas, and eight meter high (26 feet) crashing waves, are muffling the desperate cries for help…4:00 am… Twenty nine human lives are being swept away, drowned in the frigid and salty ocean waters. They were in their sleep, in their beds, in the comfort of their home. They did not understand, they could not react, most of them too old, too frail, or much too little to run for safety and climb on the rooftops, like most of the survivors did. That very night, hundreds of survivors were trapped for hours, trembling with fear and piercing cold, in agony, and battered by rain and incomprehension. Only lit by the full moon, in the darkest night of their life, all were waiting for the emergency crews and help to arrive…
