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French floods: Seine river reaches peak in flood-hit Paris

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French floods: Seine river reaches peak in flood-hit Paris

PostAuthor: Anthea » Sat Jan 27, 2018 2:10 pm

Paris readies for floods as Seine surges higher

Riverside homes and businesses in Paris are on high alert as the swollen River Seine threatens to overflow its banks.

Weeks of rainfall have produced a relentless rise in the water level, which is expected to peak at around 6m (20ft) above normal.

Here's why Parisians are keeping an eye on one particular statue as the waters rise.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/world-euro ... ges-higher
Last edited by Anthea on Tue Jan 30, 2018 3:04 am, edited 1 time in total.
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French floods: Seine river reaches peak in flood-hit Paris

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Re: Paris readies for floods as Seine surges higher

PostAuthor: Anthea » Sat Jan 27, 2018 2:19 pm

When Paris was under water for two months

Please click on images to enlarge
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It was the flood of the century. The 20th Century, that is.

The 1910 floods in Paris lasted for two months and took the lives of five people.

After a rainy summer and autumn in 1909, the water levels rose and rose and rose.

Soon the city looked more like Venice than Paris.

People steered boats down the Rue de Maine (below) and the Cour de Rome near the Saint-Lazare train station

906

The city became unfamiliar and dangerous. Between January 21 and January 28 that year, thousands of people evacuated.

Government engineers built wooden walkways that people could use to get through the flooded streets once the train tracks were submerged.

The electricity failed and even judges needed to bring blankets to court in the cold winter weather.

907

These were the days when most people did not have cameras.

Some images were made into postcards and sold as souvenirs of "la grande crue" - the great flood.

It was a long time before life got back to normal in the French capital.

908

In March, the city was still flooded. An illustrated Sunday supplement of the then-prominent French newspaper Le Petit Parisien featured a drawing of men crashing dramatically through an underground train tunnel on waves of the flood, with the headline "drama under the earth".

On 15 March, the Seine returned to its normal levels, and the Paris Metro re-opened in April.

More than 14,000 buildings had been flooded, including the seat of the National Assembly, the Palais Bourbon.

Traditional yardstick

The gauge Parisians use to check the height of the river is a statue of a soldier at the Alma bridge called the Zouave - the name comes from fighting forces originally drawn from French North Africa and which distinguished themselves in the 1854 Battle of the Alma in the Crimean War.

When water reaches the soldier's feet, the river is closed.

909

In 1910, it got as far as his shoulders.

The river level in 1910 reached 8.62m higher than normal. That is the highest the Seine has ever been.

Now, 3 June 2016 106 years on, Parisians are using the Zouave statue as a measuring stick again. The water is on course to rise up to 6.5m above its normal level.

910

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-36443329

I wonder how bad it became in 3 June 2016 and how bad it might become this weekend :ymdevil:
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Re: Paris readies for floods as Seine surges higher

PostAuthor: Anthea » Tue Jan 30, 2018 3:03 am

French floods: Seine river reaches peak in flood-hit Paris
Gordon Corera Security correspondent

The swollen River Seine in the French capital, Paris, has peaked at about four metres above its normal water level for the time of year.

The flood level rose to 5.84m (19.2ft) early on Monday and is not expected to begin receding before Tuesday.

Weeks of rainfall have produced a relentless rise in the water level.

Around 1,500 people have been evacuated from their homes in the greater Paris region, while a similar number of homes remain without electricity.

In 2016, the last significant flood in Paris, the river floodwater reached a high of 6.1m.

Seven stations of a main commuter line, the RER C, have been closed until at least 5 February, and some expressways that run alongside the Seine have been closed.

How is the flood affecting Parisians' lives?

Many people who live on houseboats along the Seine have been affected by the rising water levels and strengthening currents.

Those moored directly along the river have been evacuated to gyms in the city while others, like Gregory Deryckere, 36, who live in slightly more protected harbours up and down the waterway, have had to be towed closer to the land.

"My houseboat is in Port Van Gogh, in Asnières, and was one of the furthest out into the Seine," he said.

"We've been temporarily 'attached' to two other boats so have to get across them in order to reach the pontoon now.

"My houseboat has been plugged into the electricity supply for a vacant boat so I do have power but I have no Wi-Fi connection.

At the Louvre, a lower level housing Islamic artwork was closed to visitors. Other famous attractions like the Musée d'Orsay and the Orangerie gallery were on high alert.

Several areas on the city's outskirts are under water, and some residents are getting around by boat while dozens have been evacuated from their homes. Some schools are closed.

Water levels are expected to remain high all week, as more rain is expected to worsen an already waterlogged soil, and towns downstream from Paris are expected to be affected in the coming days.
How is the flood level calculated?

A number of flood gauges are installed along the river, and the one at the Pont d'Austerlitz is often quoted.

It is normal for this time of year for the water level to rise by one or two metres, the Franceinfo website reports.

A statue of a French soldier from the Crimean War - known as The Zouave - on the Pont de l'Alma has also long been used as a marker for water levels in the city.

On Saturday afternoon, the water was still well below his waist; during the historically bad floods of 1910, when the city was submerged for two months, it reached his neck.

Link to Article - Photos:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-42856634
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