Marine flooding alert drills for the La Rochelle metropolitan area

The La Rochelle Urban Community wanted to strengthen the preparedness of its 10 coastal municipalities in the event of a marine flood. This initiative, part of the Flood Prevention Action Program (PAPI), aims to test existing crisis management systems and train local teams to respond effectively to major events, such as coastal storms. Through full-scale exercises, elected officials and municipal employees prepared to manage critical situations by mobilizing their Municipal Safety Plans and equipment.

BRL Ingénierie assisted the La Rochelle urban community in implementing a comprehensive crisis management exercise program. This program consisted of two parts:

• A full-scale inter-municipal exercise, organized between 2019 and 2020, involving 10 coastal municipalities in the metropolitan area as well as the islands of Aix and Ré, which were included in the initiative by the prefecture;
• Eight municipal exercises, conducted between 2022 and 2023, in response to local political developments following the elections.

BRL Ingénierie conducted an in-depth analysis of existing documents (Municipal Safety Plans, Flood Risk Prevention Plans, and Damage-Triggering Event scenarios). At the same time, the team raised awareness and trained elected officials and agents in major risk management, then drafted realistic exercise scenarios—power outages, evacuations, obstacles, etc.—accompanied by precise timelines. It produced maps of the areas exposed to risk for the inter-municipal exercise, led the steering committees and the preparation and debriefing meetings, and finally formulated concrete recommendations for each municipality aimed at strengthening local organization and optimizing response times in emergency situations.

As the representative, BRL Ingénierie provided technical and operational coordination for the entire mission, ensuring a consistent approach across the territory.