Throughout the weekend Paris was on flood alert as the swollen Seine burst its banks that led to street floods and the partial closing of the famous Louvre Museum.
River Seine has peaked at about four metres above its normal water level with flood level rising to 5.84m (19.2ft) early on Monday and it might not recede before Tuesday.
There was relentless rise in the water level due to weeks of rainfall and around 1,500 people have been evacuated from their homes in the greater Paris region. Almost a similar number of homes were without electricity.
The last significant flood in Paris reached a high of 6.1m in 2016.Until at least 5 February seven major station of main commuter line the RER C have been closed along with some expressways.
Bateaux Mouches tourist boats are out of service and only emergency services allowed to use the river.Other famous attractions like the Musée d’Orsay and the Orangerie gallery were on high alert and the lower level housing Islamic artwork was closed to visitors at the Louvre.
A local said that the everyone was getting around by boat on the island of Migneaux in Poissy, a western Paris suburb. He further mentioned that in the last 20 years they were on their eight or ninth flood.
According to the Paris mayor’s office at the Pont d’Austerlitz, the Seine the flood scale is 26m deep. Although a number of flood scales are installed along the river but the one at Pont d’Austerlitz is used for general measure.
