Richelieu is flooded by the River Mable

rue Traversière - East

On the 19 June 2013 there was a torrential storm over the cité idéale.  It only lasted a couple of hours but, on the 20th - 24 hours later, all that rain from the wide valley up-steam of the  town collected itself and was concentrated into the narrow river Mable - normally a stream - that flows past the town and feeds the moat of the walled city.  Straight through the majestic waterworks of the old château, it tried to flow away into the river Vienne (15km away), and thence into the 'mighty' Loire (30km).  Flooding was limited to the eastern side of the town, close to the rivers natural bed, but cellars throughout the town were filled and needed to be pumped out later by the Sapeurs Pompiers.  Water depths in places were a metre deep.

The last time that the town was flooded by the river Mable was in 1952, when the innundation reached the steps of the church (on the western side of the town).

The town's dwellers helped each other clear up and improvised getting the water out with water-vacuum-cleaners and any squeegee to hand to help scrape up the mud.

Everyone concerned checked the terms of their (mandatory) domestic insurance policy.

New developments in Chinon - 1

The closest town to the cité idéale of Richelieu is the picturesque town of Chinon.  The mediaeval town runs along the north bank of the river Vienne below the towering castle rock. The castle was built by the many generations of Plantagenets who ruled much of western europe in the 12th  and 13th centuries from this very castle.  

Henry II of England and Eleanor of Aquitaine; their sons Richard 'coeur de lion', the famous crusader; his bother John, 'bad king John' of the legends of 'Robin Hood' and the English Magna Carta, all held court in this castle.  Later on, Joan of Arc passed through on her mission from God to help the Valois kings of France in their struggle with the usurper duc de Bourgogne and his allies, the witch-burning English.  Even later, our very own cardinal duc de Richelieu bought the sovereignety of Chinon in his quest to assemble a ducal estate, and so became the Governor of Chinon Castle (which he neglected - he was battling against castles and their intransigent and belligerant owners for most of his political career).

The castle is a big tourist attraction and the conseil général of 37 Indre-et-Loire wants to enhance its attractiveness to the tourist.

They have just built a striking new lift to connect the town below with the old castle above. The dramatic, fashionable and modern structure wisks the tourist upwards while offering panoramas of the sweeping valley of the Vienne.  A little further to the west at Candes St. Martin one can see the conjunction of the river Vienne with the Loire. This conjunction explains the strategic position of the fortress for a time when river travel was much safer and easier than journeys made cross-country.

(location on the map to the right)

from Richelieu towards the Atlantic

The little stream, the Mable, flows round the cité idéale of Richelieu.  In a few kilometres to the north it is subsumed into the bigger (but still little) river Veude.  This river in turn flows into the big river, the Indre. Touraine - the hinterland of the city of Tours - is in the départément of Indre-et-Loire (number 37).  The Indre flows into the Loire west of Chinon.  The long and mighty Loire, the only unregulated river of central France, flows into the Atlantic ocean past Nantes to the west.

These pictures show the Indre at Rivière (sic!), where the Veude flows into the Indre. Wide views of sandy banks, bodies of trees, traditional flat-bottomed fishing boats.

A tiny street arrives at the river so suddenly that it has an unusual road sign that requires little explanation or translation to a tourist from any country!