City of Light turns into a mini Venice
FLOODWATERS have approached their peak in Paris, after the River Seine burst its banks last this week.
The river was expected to peak at about six overnight, after a period of unusually heavy rain. Normally, the river level is about 1.5 metres.
Levels are expected to stay just below the exceptional 6.1-metre floods of 2016.
The rain-swollen Seine has engulfed scenic quays and threatened wine cellars and museum basements, as well as forcing a halt to all boat traffic in Paris, including tourist cruises.
Some quayside restaurants were submerged, and some roads and parks were closed as a precautionary measure – along with the bottom floor of the Louvre Museum.
Groundwater was also seeping into some Paris cellars, and authorities warned residents of some neighbourhoods to remove valuables.
Hundreds have been evacuated along the Seine as floods caused significant damage in Paris suburbs, but no deaths or injuries have been reported.
However, authorities said on Saturday that the flooding would not be as bad as forecast earlier this week.
Flood levels are still short of the
8.6 metres reached in the 1910 “flood of the century”.
Nevertheless, the flooding follows a report by the OECD warning that Paris must prepare for an event “similar to the flood disaster of 1910”.