The entire South West of France was hit by unremitting rain combined with snowmelt in late winter, which led to one of France’s deadliest floods of the 20th century.
The flood was especially lethal in the Tarn river valley, particularly downstream from the confluence with its tributary, the Agout, in the towns of Reyniès, Moissac and Montauban (82).
The rain started to fall on 28 February and did not relent until midday on 3 March.
Along the Tarn, floodwater peaked during the night from 3 to 4 March, catching local people unawares. According to estimates there were 230 deaths, 130 alone in Moissac where a dyke and a railway embankment suddenly collapsed.
As well as the loss of human life, the economic impact on manufacturing, farming and utilities was enormous.
Undoubtedly, in light of this tragedy, flood-prone area plans were drafted constituting one of the first land-use planning documents in France concerning flood risk. These would be introduced a few years later.
Le soir du lundi 3 mars, une partie de la population de Moissac assiste, malgré la montée des eaux, à un spectacle donné par le cirque Hagenbeck installé en zone non-inondable.
C’est à leur retour vers 22h qu’ils découvrent leurs quartiers engloutis, où d’autres personnes, malheureusement, étaient restées chez eux.
Un sinistré de Moissac, nous racontant les phases du désastre, ne dissimulait pas qu’une heure ou deux avant la rupture des digues, les gendarmes parcouraient les rues menacées et invitaient les habitants à fuir. Mais, en général, on refusait d’obéir à leurs avis. On s’est félicité qu’une partie de la population de la malheureuse ville ait eu, ce soir-là, la bonne fortune d’assister à un spectacle dans un cirque de passage. Pourtant, le Tarn, à la tombée du jour, dépassait déjà de 30 à 40 centimètres.
Tarn-et-Garonne Departmental Archives
Edit. J. Bouzin, Cote AD82 2FI Moissac 137.
completely devastated by the River Tarn.
Tarn-et-Garonne Departmental Archives. CL. Jaubert,
Ref. AD82 2FI Montauban 112.
The church square neighbourhood in Reyniès (82), completely razed to the ground.
Tarn-et-Garonne Departmental Archives
Edit. J. Bouzin, Cote AD82 2FI Reyniès 3 The Tarn flood left only the church
and town hall standing.
9 major bridges and more than 3,000 houses were destroyed in the Tarn River catchment.
Many of the latter were especially vulnerable to flooding due to the materials used to build them (mud bricks).
Source: gallica.bnf.fr/ National Library of France.