Memories of Lozère: the floods of the Merdanson in the city center of Mende

Mende, crue du Merdanson en 1907. DR

Cette rubrique hebdomadaire est réalisée par Jean-Marie Gazagne.

Le Merdanson est un torrent qui apparaissait sporadiquement dans une combe de la Vabre, à Mende. Il semblait s’amorcer par un système de siphons après de très fortes pluies.

So in 1907, the photographer Pestre took a series of photos. The muddy flow, which carried stones, blocked traffic and footbridges had to be put in place to allow people to cross.

The bed of the Merdanson is canalized

On the houses located at the four corners, stones with a notch allowed planks to be placed, which constituted a sort of channel thus channeling the water. Nowadays, only one remains on the Buisson house, at the corner of rue du Torrent and boulevard.

On this document, we will notice the granting barracks. This torrent flows very rarely. It sank in October 1920, in March 1930, in October 1933, in December 1959 and in 1973. Since 1985, the bed of the Merdanson has been canalized with culverts of a diameter of 600. It seems that this installation was sufficient to absorb the mass of water during the precipitation and the flood of November 1994. However, nothing says that it will be the same in the future.

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