Located in an industrial park, a warehouse storing 1,300 tonnes of finished phytosanitary products was flooded following dike failure. The facility was operating with 8 employees and its warehousing activity spanned 3,600 m² with an average height of 7 m (covering 4 levels). On 4th December at 4 am, city officials announced that water levels had risen by 20 cm in the park. The site’s storage cells were first protected by the loading platforms positioned 1.2 m aboveground, but due to rising water levels the warehouse still had to be evacuated at 9 am. Two employees remained however to lift the sensitive merchandise, in relying on an accurate list of all stored products. They closed the valves to avoid an upwelling of water from the storm drain network and shut off electricity and the foam generator. Water gradually rose above the loading platform level and by noon had reached 0.9 m in the cells on its way to 1.43 m the next day. Monitoring rounds took place during the entire 14-day submersion period. On 17th December, the DRIRE Environmental Agency authorised pumping water out of the cells, which had previously been analysed by a subcontractor. The warehouse resumed operations on 5th January after cleaning the premises. Property damage was estimated at € 4 million: 300 tonnes of product stored on the floor were either destroyed or degraded, forklift motors were flooded, and the storage cell floor was cracked. Subsequent to this loss, the operator: included flood risks in the safety report; revised the site’s emergency plan; stopped warehousing sensitive merchandise at ground level; set up a direct phone line to the city office assigned to announce floods; and launched a permanent site monitoring campaign. 90-cm high cofferdams were also slid into place on rails around the cell doors.

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