they have been living isolated for a year

She squirms like a snake on the side of a cliff. The D53b requires you to drive at 40 km/h. From the heights of Amélie-les-Bains (Pyrénées-Orientales, near the border with Spain), a sign warns: “Mountain road: difficult crossings, U-turn impossible.” More than a year ago, on the morning of November 9, 2024, when Fanny Di Francesco, 80 years old, wanted to go down to Amélie by car, she found herself blocked by the unthinkable: a landslide had swept away, approximately 30 m wide, the road connecting her hamlet of Mas Pagris to the town.

That day, Marie Costa, mayor of Amélie-les-Bains, came to see the damage. “It was the first and last time we saw her there,” says Christian. But the same day, we decided, with a neighbor, Philippe Trilha, to reopen the old mule track above the road.” There the local residents’ cars and a handcart are parked there to transport the shopping. “Then you have to stuff everything into a backpack,” describes Philippe Trilha, “crawling up the mountainside for thirty minutes, to get a car on the other side of the landslide and reach the first houses of the hamlet. This is our daily life.” Above continues the narrow road which serves numerous isolated farmhouses, dotted with this high valley dominated by the Saint-Sauveur rock.

A weakened massif

During the holidays, Marion Trilha chose the trail. “There are five of us who go down regularly. I head off at 5:30 a.m., with change in my backpack and a stick to protect myself from wild boars. Going to see friends, to the cinema or to a party has become an expedition.” Like everyone else, she hopes for the road to be repaired: “This central part had already fallen in 1974 and a company had rebuilt it quite quickly.” Renaud Lambert, another isolated neighbor, is surprised: “I don’t understand that this is a technical obstacle with the technological miracles that we achieve today.”

Marie Costa, the councilor, defends another option. She recalls that, as in the Roya valley (Alpes-Maritimes) after the storm of 2020, it is not always possible to rebuild identically. Climate change is weakening the mountain: droughts and temperature variations are accelerating the erosion of the shale cliff. Rebuilding the road would cost more than three million euros and risk destabilizing the massif, according to specialist services.

“We would take the risk that everything would collapse again,” she emphasizes. The municipality is therefore banking on the rehabilitation of the forest trail. Widened, drained and groomed, it will become the main access. Of the 12 km, only three come under Amélie-les-Bains, but the town hall will take charge of two thirds of the work, initiated by a declaration of emergency general interest. The objective is to restore traffic on December 1, with the support of a snow plow promised by the sub-prefect.

Saving solidarity

In this technical-administrative slump, fortunately a great solidarity was organized. “As we are forgotten by the services – including that of La Poste, describes Christian – it is Philippe who collects our packages in his store in Amélie-les-Bains, then brings them up to us. We help out with products, help, repairs, to move our cars, carpool or take out our trash bags.”

Neighbors watch over each other, make sure that a late return is not due to a fall on the trail, stop by to see an elder after an episode of snow or wind, share a tool, a meal, a route… For many, this mutual help has become a daily glue. And everyone helps out when the other asks. Fanny Di Francesco assures: “We are resilient and still have hope. To think that 30 m separate us from happiness…” The visit of the prefect of the Pyrénées-Orientales, on November 21, is eagerly awaited.