Climate change: 'Exceptional' floods hit northern France
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00:00 For five long days, this woman had been unable to leave her home.
00:05 Carried by the fire brigade and put safely into a lifeboat, she finally decided that
00:11 enough was enough on Tuesday.
00:13 "At my house, there's no heating, nothing, no electricity.
00:20 I'm happy to go to a house where it's warm."
00:23 In this small town on the northern tip of France, one in three residents have been forced
00:28 out of their homes by historic floods, two in the space of just five days.
00:33 The water reached its peak on Tuesday morning.
00:36 As a result, in one house, everything has had to be thrown away.
00:40 "We emptied out the water and now it's rising back up.
00:45 It's a nightmare, we lost everything, we've got nothing left."
00:48 Since last Thursday, the family has had to live upstairs, without electricity or heating.
00:54 "This is my grandfather, he's 88 years old.
00:58 That's why we can't leave.
00:59 With the cold weather, he will catch a cold."
01:03 It's a life cut off from the outside world.
01:05 Looking out this window is the only way to monitor the water levels.
01:09 "It's been a week that we've been living this tragedy."
01:13 The fire brigade, coupled with members of the local community, are doing their best
01:17 to keep spirits up, delivering coffee and hot meals to isolated residents.
01:22 "They're great.
01:24 They brought us breakfast and a hot meal at lunch."
01:29 The water levels began to recede on Tuesday, but the respite may be brief, with further
01:34 rain forecast in the coming days.