Seine peaks as waterlogged Paris eyes clean-up

THE swollen Seine peaked yesterday at more than 4 metres above its normal level, leaving a lengthy mop-up job for Parisians after days of rising waters that have put the soggy city on alert.

The river rose to 5.85 metres early yesterday, causing continued headaches for commuters as well as people living near its overflowing banks.

The Vigicrues flooding agency said the river would stay at its current level throughout the day before beginning to recede today.

“It’s been a gradual rise, so you can’t really call it a ‘peak’ – we prefer to say it has plateaued,” said Rachel Puechberty, a spokeswoman for the agency.

Light rain was forecast for yesterday but it is not expected to push the Seine higher, though water levels are likely to stay high for a week, Puechberty said.

Around 1,500 people have been evacuated from their homes in the greater Paris region, according to police, while 1,900 households have lost electricity.

The river did not quite reach the 2016 high of 6.1 metres, when artworks had to be evacuated from the Louvre.

Even once the water levels start to recede officials say it will be a slow process, as much of the ground in northern France is already waterlogged.

Questions were turning to the potential damage to buildings and infrastructure that have been submerged since the water started rising in early January. The December-January period is now the third wettest on record since data collection began in 1900, according to France’s meteorological service.

In the city centre, the Seine flows through a deep channel, limiting the potential flooding damage.

But several areas on the outskirts were under water, including the southern suburb of Villeneuve-Saint-Georges, where some residents were getting around by boat and dozens have been evacuated from their homes.

Elsewhere in France, 11 departments were still on flood alert as of yesterday.

Downstream from Paris, water levels in some areas have surpassed those of 2016.