VIDEO – In the streets, in the sea … Marseille drowned in waste after bad weather – LCI

The fears turned out. In the aftermath of two stormy episodes that hit Marseille, the Marseille city wakes up under rivers of waste. The garbage collectors’ strike last week has indeed left its mark: despite the resumption of work over the weekend, they were unable to avoid the accumulation of garbage cans on the sidewalks. In recent hours, the torrential rains that fell on the south-east of France have therefore washed away the rubbish in their path. This Tuesday, October 5 in the morning, several streets are filled with waste, which ends up, for some, in the sea.

The situation is “catastrophic”, denounced to AFP Isabelle Poitou, biologist and director of the MerTerre association in Marseille, “with waste that will wash up on the beaches and in the sea in the coming days”. 650 agents of the Metropolis were however responsible for collecting the trash until Monday morning, before the arrival of the new rainy episode, which earned the Bouches-du-Rhône to be classified in red vigilance by Météo-France, a first. But their mission was interrupted “to favor the cleaning of the drains”, depending on the community.

From now on, trash bags, plastic or even packaging are streaming in the streets of Marseille (see video at the top of this article). To the chagrin of the Minister of the Sea, Annick Girardin, who feared from Monday afternoon that they would reach the Mediterranean. And the situation could even get worse. Despite the end of the stormy episode, the Mistral must still blow in the next few hours, and could send everything to the beaches.

The inhabitants, who deplore a “open-air recycling center”, are also concerned that litter will attract rats. The bins, for the most part open on the sidewalks, may indeed lead to the arrival of these rodents, already the cause of many nuisances in certain areas of the city in normal times.