French flood victims blame government

"This rumour has no objective foundation," Voynet said on the radio station France-Inter, "but it well reflects the exasperation and the fatalism of residents affected by the flooding." With over 1,500 houses inundated for days because heavy rainfall caused the river Somme to overflow its banks, residents of several northern French towns have looked to the central government in Paris for the cause.

On Monday, residents of the town of Abbeville - the hardest hit by the floods - jeered Prime Minister Lionel Jospin as he toured the affected region. One town resident shouted, "The water is here, it's enormous, it must have come from somewhere." Jospin replied, "Don't belive these nonsensical rumours. There is no tap between the Somme basin and the Seine basin." More than 700 people have been evacuated in recent days because of the floodwaters from the Somme.

(dpa)