Breil Sur Roya devastated

October 6, 2020 by David Herd

Breil Sur Roya devastated

Breil Sur Roya devastated by storm Alex on October 4 2020, it destroyed dozens of houses and washed away roads in the mountainous border region north of Nice.

Riny Doyle

Ten years ago I spent 2 weeks in this beautiful French village as a guest of Riny Doyle & his partner Suzanne. We are dining on one of Riny’s specialties, wild boar pasta. I remember Riny saying the boar had to be frozen for 6 months before cooking. 🙂

Main street in Breil

The force of the flood water must have been incredible.

Cars submerged in mud.

Three more bodies have been discovered on the French side of the border with Italy after severe mountain flooding ravaged parts of both countries, leaving at least 12 dead.

It will take months to clean up

Sadly the village may never fully recover, many residents will be afraid the flood waters may return in the future.

Perhaps there was no warning

That may be the reason there were so many vehicles in the middle of the village.

Breil Sur Roya devastated

Barely hanging on to the edge of the cliff, how frightening is that?

Another one bites the dust

Totally heartbreaking for the residents of this beautiful village.

This home I’m sure will be demolished.

It’s difficult to see any other solution.

Breil Sur Roya devastated, such a sad sight

Another photo of the main street in the middle of Breil.

This is so hard to believe…

A simple reminder that we should never underestimate the awesome power of nature.

Compare the area above to 2010

From a tranquil setting to a scene of devastation.

A little roadwork needed here

How frightening would this have been for anyone driving on this busy road?

Flashback to 2010 with my friend Riny Doyle.

Also with me were two Australian friends, Jodie O’Neil & Deborah Holiday. Here is the message I got from Riny the day after the disaster; “no water no électricité no phone roads collapsed. A temp road-fix allowed me to go to next valley to let everyone know we are ok. Village is a disaster.”

Thanks for visiting my Breil Sur Roya devastated photo blog, my sympathy to all the residents who have suffered in this horrific event.

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Please check out my 2010 photo blog.

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Author: David Herd

My history, particularly over the last 30 years is dominated by overseas travel. I sold my home in Australia October 20th 2011 and have have been living in Thailand since then. I don’t know where the time has gone? It seems like you go to sleep one night, wake up the next morning, and 20 years have flashed by. Not sure how many years I have left, however I have enjoyed a wonderful charmed life, and if it all ended today I would leave this world with no regrets. I was born in Sydney halfway through the last century, started my travels in the 60s with the usual U.K. Europe adventure at the age of 20, back to Australia and worked in Sydney, Melbourne & Adelaide in Sales & Marketing with multinational companies including Sanyo, Canon & Remington. Engaged to be married 3 times and never quite made it to the alter, finally realized by the mid 90s I was not cut out for "long term relationships" so I moved to the Gold Coast in Queensland in January 1987, worked for a couple of banks as a Financial Planner, I took a year off work in 1998 to travel and never went back to full time work again, after 25 fun filled years on the Coast I packed up and moved to Thailand. What is the purpose of this blog? Well I really want to use it to record my travel experiences & to display my photographs, give and receive travel tips, comment on places I visit, restaurants I eat in and use it to replace the autobiography I intended to write, apart from all that it helps me fill in my day. :) I moved to Thailand mainly because I wanted to keep travelling while my health allowed me to, there are huge advantages being closer to all the places I want to visit. Cost of living in Thailand is around 35% of the cost in Australia, plus flights are 50% cheaper because you are much closer to everywhere. ???? Consequently I am able to travel to many more places compared to living in Australia. Having said all that, it is & has always been my intention to return to Australia when my travelling is finished, I predict this will happen around 2021.