Since yesterday morning (Wednesday), the "Marie" of Chamonix has been in a state of alert. The reason: overnight rain had made the level of the River Arve dangerously high. At 10 o'clock Wednesday morning, a pocket of water under Nant-Blanc burst. Then, an hour later, another water pocket under the Dru also ruptured. Faced with an alarming rise of water, a crisis unit was set up and counter-measures taken, particularly in the Rue des Moulins in the heart of Chamonix, a low street very close to the river. "We have bought in two diggers", explained the Mayor, Eric Fournier. "One for the Arveyron at the DZ des Bois, and another for the Rue des Moulins". At the same time, campsites on the edge of the River Arve were alerted, and sandbags were distributed to shopkeepers with premises potentially exposed to flooding. The bad memory of the flood disaster of July 1996 comes immediately to mind. There has been flooding each summer for the last two years, and now already three times this year. Le Dauphiné
