PARIS: Paris was on alert for flooding today, 30 January as the River Seine swelled to four metres above is usual levels. The river flowing through the French capital reached 5.84m (19.2ft) on Monday morning. Water levels are not expected to begin receding before Tuesday after weeks of heavy rain hit the area. Paris regional authorities say the floods have already caused damage in 240 towns. The flooding in the area has closed roads and schools, and prompted the evacuation of some hospitals.
The Paris flooding is bad news for tourists hoping to cruise past Paris sites on the famed “bateaux mouches” riverboats, or visit the bottom floor of the Louvre Museum, closed since last week as a precaution.
Riverside train stations along the line that serves Versailles are also closed, and will remain that way for several more days.
Water laps the underside of historic bridges, and treetops and lampposts poke out of the brown, swirling Seine.
But Paris is better prepared than when it was last hit by heavy flooding in 2016, and Parisians have largely taken disruptions in stride this time.
The floods have caused damage in 242 towns along the river and tributaries, and are now threatening more towns as the Seine heads downstream west of Paris toward Normandy and the English Channel.
Floodwaters have reached a peak in Paris and are now threatening towns downstream along the rain-engorged Seine River.
The national flood monitoring agency Vigicrues said the water levels hit a maximum height of 5.84 meters (19 feet, 2 inches) on the Austerlitz scale early on Monday.
That’s below initial fears last week, and well below record levels of 8.62 meters in 1910, but still several meters above normal levels of about 1.5 meters on the Austerlitz scale.
Paris is better prepared than when it was last hit by heavy flooding in 2016, and Parisians have largely taken disruptions in their stride this time.
Other towns on the surging Seine have been worse-affected.
The floods have caused damage in 242 towns along the river and tributaries, and are now threatening more towns as the Seine heads downstream west of Paris towards Normandy and the English Channel.
Nearly 1,500 people have been evacuated from homes in the Paris region, with authorities on alert for any major flood risk after the levels of the swollen River Seine rose further. The evacuees were moved out of homes in the Ile de France region comprising the French capital and its suburbs.
