aixcentric

Photo from La Provence

Buildings in rue Granet in Aix’s centre ville were evacuated on Monday evening when ‘travaux’ on a ground-floor apartment led to the vaulting in the cave below giving way.  Residents in flats above were told to leave immediately followed by all from numbers 21-25.  No-one was hurt and of the 63 people affected, 32 went to 5 hotels with the rest moved to temporary accommodation at Les Milles.

No-one including shop-keepers could rescue their belongings; gas was cut off but the electricity has been left on so fridges can remain running to keep rotting food from attracting rats.

Since then, cracks appeared at properties behind rue Granet, so now there have been partial evacuations of the rues Puits Juif, Matheron and Loubon.

The cause is thought to be the instability of underying clay – an ‘expert judiciare’ is visiting this afternoon to inspect the situation.  Locals will undoubtedly think of the recent loss of life in Marseille’s ancient rue d’Aubagne, and closer to home the threatened collapse of numbers 88-98 in cours Sextius.  Only number 90 remains to be completed but the road is still closed to heavy traffic as geotechnical studies showed that the intensity of vibration had shaken these buildings on their fragile foundations.

Such a difficult time for the residents and independent shops and galleries in that dynamic neighbourhood.