AFP/Lourdes


A man uses a fishing net as he stands in the flood waters of the River Gave outside the Roman Catholic shrine of the Grotto in Lourdes, southwestern France
A massive clean-up was under way yesterday in the French pilgrimage town of Lourdes, famed for its Catholic sanctuaries, after flash floods forced the evacuation of some 450 pilgrims and closed the main shrine.
The waters from days of nonstop rain in the region had begun to recede but the main places of worship remained closed to the public as firefighters pumped out water from a grotto and the basements of several hotels.
The cave, where Catholics believe the Virgin Mary appeared to peasant girl Bernadette Soubirous in 1858, remained flooded yesterday, with debris like bits of wood, candles and branches floating on the surface.
An estimated 6mn pilgrims visit the shrine every year, drawn by its spring waters, which the devout believe can heal and even work miracles.
Thierry Castillo, the custodian of the sanctuaries, said: “There have been floods in the past, but this one has caused the most damage in the last 30 years.”
It was a fresh blow for the sanctuaries, which had a million-euro ($1.3mn) hole last year in a 30mn euro budget due to lower donations as a result of the eurozone debt crisis.
“We have serious damages which will run into hundreds of thousands of euros,” Castillo said, adding that he hoped for “a mobilisation of donors”.
Pope Benedict XVI evoked the flooding at a special mass yesterday in the Vatican where he named seven new saints, saying: “Let us turn to the Virgin Mary with a thought for Lourdes, the victim of flash floods which inundated the grotto where the Madonna had appeared.”
The national weather service yesterday lifted the “orange alert” for rain that it had issued for the area, but left in place an “orange warning” for floods.
“The waters rose between 10pm on Saturday and 2am yesterday, but less than Saturday morning. The floods are currently receding. There’s no major worry anymore,” said David Ribeiro, a sub-prefect of the region.
Several areas in the town were inundated on Saturday as the river Gave de Pau burst its banks, leading to the closure of the main places of worship.
Buses ferried guests from all the hotels in the lower town to a conference centre and a sports complex on Saturday. Two campsites were also evacuated and several roads closed in Lourdes, home to 22 places of worship.
The water was around 1m deep in front of the Grotto and 80cm in the Avenue du Paradis, where most of the hotels for pilgrims are located.
By yesterday, the waters had receded from the streets but in many places left mud and slush up to 10cm deep.
The body supervising the sanctuaries said a hydro-electricity unit providing power to the shrines had been badly damaged as well as two pedestrian walkways on the side of the river.
Entry to the sanctuaries was barred, and many visitors voiced disappointment, like Laura Generini, an Italian who turned 39 yesterday.
“I hope I will be able to pray at the Grotto before I leave,” said Generini, who came from Florence.
Others were undaunted. “We will return in spring,” said Eric Alves d’Olivera, from the southern French city of Montpellier.
Shops hawking souvenirs were however open yesterday, and some owners complained that the reaction to the flash floods was too heavy-handed and hurt their business.
“There is great panic over something not that big. We have seen worse like in 1982,” said Lise Aldaz, who owns a souvenir shop.
“Luckily this came at the end of the season,” she said. “It’s sad for the people, especially the foreign visitors.”
But Jean-Marie Attard, the head of a regional hoteliers’ association, hailed the evacuations, saying: “We have come through something that could have been dramatic. All lives were saved and we can view this as a miracle.”