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Paris Floods: Waiting For The Peak About More Than Just Art

By Amanda Gardner
Published on: 01:29 PST, Jun 3, 2016

Since 1982, Paris has not seen floods like it is seeing at this moment. Artwork is being evacuated from the Louvre, the Musée d’Orsay is closed, and tourist boats are banned from the Seine. However, not all of the consequences of the floods relate to material or economic losses, as two are dead in villages near Paris, making the floods a human tragedy as well as an economic disaster. To make matters worse, the Seine has not yet peaked, meaning more flooding is yet to come.

According to a recent report from BBC News, Paris is a city that any visitor would currently find difficult to recognize thanks to the floods. Parisian officials have taken drastic measures in attempts to protect both the city and its inhabitants. They have placed barriers along the riverbanks, closed several of the bridges spanning the Seine, and shut roadways near the river’s banks. SNCF, which is the French national rail service, has limited service in central Paris, closing the line running adjacent to the river.

The Independent reported the closure of the Saint-Michel metro station near Paris’ famous cathedral of Notre-Dame due to water leaking through the walls. With this being only one of many metro and railway stations on the banks of the Seine, it is not difficult to imagine the floods forcing more closures, putting even greater pressure on Paris’ public transportation system. However, metro officials do not expect mass closures unless the flooding reaches a level of 22 feet.

The closures of two of Paris’ most visited museums, certainly a disappointment to the tourists who have found themselves in the French capital under such abnormal conditions, have hopefully not come too late. Matthieu Clouzeau, a Paris public safety official, admitted the floods have astounded Paris’ leaders.

“We have been taken by surprise. The rise in water levels has been twice as fast as our planning models anticipated, based on statistics from 1910.”

With artwork evacuation expected to take two to three days and waters rising at twice the expected rate, one can only imagine the panic that has become the norm today in both the Louvre and the Musée d’Orsay. The New York Daily News reported on the artwork evacuation, citing a museum official who spoke with the Washington Post saying that, in the Louvre alone, some 200,000 pieces of art were at risk from the floods.

The lack of electricity is also affecting those in Paris today. Sky News reported that Enedis, a major French power company, said 22,000 residences are without power in Paris and to the south of the city toward Orléans. Another source has the number of homes affected by the floods at 25,000. Regardless of the correct number, it is safe to say that both residents and businesses in Paris and throughout the regions of France affected by the floods are struggling to face not only their current situations but the floods’ aftermath.

While the transportation and electricity issues are making life difficult for many of Paris’ residents and while the art community waits to hear confirmation that Paris’ museum holdings are safe, at least two families in Paris’ suburbs are suffering the losses of loved ones. The two flooding-related deaths in France were an older man living southeast of Paris who, according to the Wall Street Journal, fell off of his horse and an elderly woman found in her home.

In hopes of preventing more deaths, French officials have evacuated thousands in a village south of Paris, where, as Reuters reported on Thursday, the “floodwaters crept toward the second story of buildings in the town center.” In addition, French President Francois Hollande has declared national disasters in the areas affected by the floods, allowing him to access emergency funds to help the residents and business owners in the flooded regions.

As the world continues to watch, Paris is waiting for the flood waters to peak, which is expected to happen sometime today. Hopefully, the peak in Paris itself will not surpass the expected maximum level or 6.5 meters, or 21 feet. Even more importantly, hopefully the level of the Seine will begin to drop before additional rain falls on Paris as is forecast for the weekend.

[Photo by Markus Schreiber/AP Images]

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