Europe braces for more flooding
France declares a state of emergency amid deaths, evacuations and closures.
PARIS — Flooding in Europe this week caused more than a dozen deaths, the evacuation of thousands of people from their homes and the closures of roads, subways and museums, officials said Friday.
Forecasters warned more rain was on its way across a large part of the continent.
In Paris, the Seine River rose to its highest level in decades as a result of torrential rains, flooding streets and leading authorities to close the Louvre and Orsay museums, the Grand Palais exhibition and museum complex and the national library.
The flooding also forced the closure of several railway and Metro stations in the French capital as well as highways. More than 20,000 people were without electricity in Paris and central France.
French President Francois Hollande on Friday declared a state of national disaster in the worst hit areas, allowing them to receive emergency funds. He said the unusually heavy rains were a “serious climate phenomenon…and a global challenge.”
Speaking at a news conference with visiting South Korean President Park Geun-Hye, Hollande said “more decisions” may be required if the water continued to rise, but did not elaborate on what these might be. He said the French authorities would be “vigilant regarding the rising water level.”
The Louvre and Orsay museums that sit on either side of the Seine, which swelled to its highest level since 1982, were closed to allow staff to move thousands of priceless works of art that were in basement storage rooms. The Louvre, the most visited museum in the world, is home to the Mona Lisa but the celebrated painting is on a higher floor and not threatened by flooding.
On Friday evening, the river was continuing to rise and was expected to hit a peak of 21.3 feet some time overnight.
Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo, who in April oversaw an emergency simulation of the Seine bursting its banks and flooding the French capital, ordered the closure of several parks and opened a number of sports halls to house people evacuated from their homes.
“The situation continues to evolve hour by hour,” Colombe Brossel, a Paris deputy mayor said at a news conference at City hall.
The Zouave statue near Pont de l’Alma, traditionally used to measure the river levels, was waist deep on Friday. Normally, the water barely laps the statue’s feet. The river remained short of the 26.2 feet it reached in the catastrophic flood of January 1910.
The French Insurance Assn. estimated the cost of flood damage would reach $826 million. German insurers estimate the cost has reached $500 million in the state of Baden-Wurttemberg alone.
Among the flood casualties reported by authorities were three women who were found drowned in the basement of their home in Bavaria, Germany.
German authorities said the body of a 65-year-old man was found in the town of Simbach am Inn and a 72year-old man died of a heart attack after being rescued from a raging stream in the village of Triftern, bringing the country's death toll from recent flooding to 11, the Associated Press reported.
In eastern Romania, two people died and 200 people were evacuated from their homes, and in Belgium, the body of a 60-year-old beekeeper was found near the hives he had been trying to protect from floodwater. Two people were reported killed in Romania.
Heavy rain is expected to continue across central Europe from France to Ukraine this weekend. Austria, the Netherlands and Poland have also been affected.
French authorities said there were plans to transfer the French presidency, ministries and other sensitive sites to secure places in case of flooding. The SGDSN security agency reportedly said the French presidency and the prime minister's office were not immediately threatened but the National Assembly and the Foreign Ministry were at greater risk.
Authorities said it could take weeks for the floodwaters to clear. In many cases, tourists who found museums and other attractions closed said they understood under the circumstances.
“It's good that they are evacuating the paintings,” Carlos Santiago, who was visiting Paris from Mexico, told AP. “It's a shame that we couldn't see them today, but it's right that they do these things.”