Usually Nice is a haven of calm. Sitting on the shores of the Mediterranean, it is sheltered from a lot of the bad weather by the Alps, which almost dip their toes into the water, at the Italian border 35 kilometres to the east. But occasionally maritime conditions can intensify incoming bad weather to produce 'bomb storms'. When Alex – a very large and powerful bomb storm – hit land, it unleashed terrible winds and rain on the mountains behind Nice, causing devastation on a scale possibly never seen before.

In some parts of the arrière pays niçois (Nice's backcountry), more than 50 centimetres of rain fell per square metre of ground. That might be difficult to visualise, but that's a total of 500 litres, or around 4 bathtubs totally full of water, on every square metre in only 12 hours, washing away houses, farms, workplaces and other buildings, as well as destroying bridges and more than 70 kilometres of road. Nine people died, including two firefighters and a shepherd who was carried away by the water while trying to save his sheep.

At Cafe du Cycliste we love the arrière-pays, and we celebrate its roads and its views with our clothing, photography and stories. We believe it's the best place on earth to ride a road bike and we sometimes call it our 'playground' (the gravel is awesome too). However, Storm Alex was a terrible reminder that the natural forces that created these stunning mountains, valleys and gorges do not only operate over geological timespans of millions of years: they can also have a huge impact in just hours and minutes.

Worst affected were the three valleys carrying the Tinée, Vésubie and Roya rivers, which run from north to south and join with the Esteron and the Var before flowing into the sea by the Nice airport. The Tinée leads up to the Col de la Bonette, one of our favourite cols and the so-called 'highest inter-valley road in Europe'; the Vésubie is the principal access to the Col du Turini, where the Zinzins love to ride; and the Roya, which is bisected by the Italian border, leads to perhaps the best high gravel road in Europe, the Via del Sale.

Several major towns were cut off, losing electricity, clean water and road access for several days, while some of the outlying villages and hamlets were only reconnected just before Christmas – and even then these are 4 x 4 tracks, no proper roads. In Castérino, usually a popular cross-country ski resort in the Roya, a handful of residents are spending the winter completely cut off, living off the food stores in the hotels and heating their houses with firewood.

The picturesque town of Saint Martin-Vésubie was one of the worst affected. Once an important stop on the salt route to Italy, and a major trading post for the shepherds, farmers and producers of the mountains, its houses, bridges, roads, shops, museum, brewery, even its cemetery, were washed away.

We have created a limited-edition sweatshirt bearing its name, in a classic varsity style, suitable for men and women. 100% of the profits made from this sweatshirt will go to the official relief fund, helping to pay for the hundreds of millions of euros of work that is being undertaken across the entire region to repair buildings, roads and flood defences, not to mention bringing food and material support to the inhabitants left without a livelihood – sometimes even without a roof.

Mountain roads are not just for riding bikes – they are lifelines for thousands of people – and we want to stand in solidarity with the people of the arrière pays. We want to help life get back to normal, so we can all enjoy the mountains again together in the future.

If you would like to support the relief fund, you can buy the special edition Clementine sweatshirt here.

Images by Daniel Cole.