A British family have been left stranded in France and forced to take shelter on a beach after being evacuated from their holiday destination due to wildfires.
Evacuation and chaos
Melissa Sood's trip to visit her grandmother with her husband Sunny, 42, her 14-year-old daughter and her brother and sister, descended into chaos when the family were forced to flee their accommodation as wildfires tore through the coastal town of Biscarrosse.
The 33-year-old mum and her family found themselves stranded on the beach, sleeping on cardboard boxes, before a family friend came to their rescue, letting them sleep in tents in their garden in Sanguinet.
Since Friday, the family have been sleeping in a supermarket tent in their friend's garden, with no indication of when they might be able to return to their home in Basingstoke, Hampshire. With roads to the airport blocked, and as they are unable to retrieve their house keys from Melissa's grandmother's property, the family remain stuck.
More than 200,000 evacuated
More than 200,000 people have been evacuated across France as wildfires have scorched an area four times the size of Paris. French president Emmanuel Macron described the situation as 'completely unprecedented' wildfire, the 'toughest since World War Two'.
Melissa, a GP practice manager, told Talk to the Press: 'The fire looked like a scene from a disaster movie, it was terrible. We started to hear explosions, from the gas cannisters in people's barbecues, it was really eerie.'
'My daughter was really scared. Our house was evacuated; we had to pull some cardboard boxes out of a recycling bin and use them to try and sleep on the grass.'
'There's no hotels anywhere, we've been sleeping in a tent in a kind French person's garden since, Friday, we've had no sleep at all.'
Timeline of events
Melissa and her family flew out to France on Monday (July 20) to visit her 83-year-old grandmother in Biscarrosse, roughly an hour south of Bordeaux.
After a peaceful few days, the family made their way to the local beach on Thursday 23 July for some quality time together. On the journey home, Melissa noticed thick clouds of smoke rising in the distance, along with a van that had burst into flames.
'I didn't think much of it. I grew up here, and I've seen vehicles catch fire, and then they're put out and it's done,' she said.
The family returned home, and later that evening decided to head into the town centre for dinner. 'All of a sudden, the police came into the restaurant and said we needed to evacuate,' Melissa said. 'We started to run back to the house and there were water planes flying over, and the air was just black. The air quality was terrible.'
The family dashed back to Melissa's grandmother's house to grab their passports and a few essential belongings before making their way down to the beach. 'It was chaos, the whole town had been evacuated there,' she said.
Struggle for shelter
After checking a local Facebook group, the family discovered that a nearby school was being used as an emergency evacuation centre. However, upon arrival, volunteers informed them that only Melissa's grandmother was eligible to stay, as they were unable to assist non-residents. 'I had to beg them to even use the loo,' Melissa said.
They returned to the beach, and with the time now approaching 3am, tried to get some rest by retrieving cardboard boxes from a bin and settling down on the grass. 'After about an hour the sprinklers turned on,' Melissa said. 'We got no sleep whatsoever.'
Fortunately, family friends of Melissa's grandmother, living 10km from Biscarosse, allowed the family to use their garden. Melissa said: 'We ended up having to go to the local supermarket and picking up a tent to sleep in the garden. We've got no blow-up beds as they're out of stock everywhere, and just a few blankets.'
Uncertain return
The family are scheduled to return home on Thursday, July 30, but remain unable to access her grandmother's property to retrieve their possessions. 'I don't even have my house keys,' she said. 'All we've got is the clothes that we're wearing, we can't even go to the shops to buy anything, as they're all shut.'
Access routes between their current location and Bordeaux airport are also impassable owing to wildfires, leaving them uncertain about their journey home. 'We keep getting alerts on our phone saying the area we are in now might be evacuated as well,' she said. 'We don't know what to do.'
The family remain in the dark about when they might return to Melissa's grandmother's residence, or whether it has survived the fires. Sunny has spent a total of 11 hours on the phone with insurance company Philip Williams, who indicated they may be able to cover certain expenses, such as the cost of the tent.
The family has also reached out to the British Embassy, however, as it is located in Paris and they are unable to travel there, little can be done to assist them.
