France said Thursday it would declare a state of natural disaster in the south-west of the country after floods claimed three lives and devastated Lourdes. Fears the Catholic pilgrimage site could be forced to close its doors to visitors for months receded with the flood waters Thursday, with church officials insisting that the town's celebrated grotto would be accessible to visitors within days.
But other sites, including the underground basilica, have been left facing a lengthy clean-up operation after the Gave de Pau, the river that flows through the town, burst its banks for the second time in less than a year. Thousands of tourists have had to be evacuated from their inundated hotels and visits to the grotto, basilica and other religious sites have been suspended since Tuesday. "As the water has begun to recede, we are discovering bit by bit the extent of the damage," said Mathias Terrier, a spokesman for the Lourdes sanctuaries, acknowledging that it could be months before some of them reopen.
Lourdes is visited by some six million people every year with the numbers in July and August reaching a peak of up to 40,000 every day. Many of the visitors are severely ill or handicapped, drawn to the town by the belief that its waters have curative powers.