Flooded quais and roadways along the Seine River in Paris
Photo: Betrand Buay AFP/Getty Images
Torrential rains have caused major flooding in central and northeastern France this week, forcing the evacuation of thousands of people, some on boats or kayaks, and threatening priceless works of art stored in Paris’s most celebrated museums. In Germany, heavy rains have been responsible for the deaths of nine people.
In Paris, the Seine rose 16 feet above its typical level (almost 5 meters), flooding the lower embankments (quais) and shutting several roads but causing no significant damage. The level is still far from the record of 1910, however, when the river rose 26 feet above its typical level.
Flooded rail line in Souppes-sur-Loing, France
Photo: Kenzo Tribouillard, AFP/Getty Images
French Open, Museums Disrupted
Nonetheless, the city authorities advised people to stay away from the banks of the river and part of Paris’s commuter train system that runs below ground along the Seine was shut as a preventive measure.
The Louvre announced that it would be closed on Friday to move, as a precautionary measure, works of art in areas vulnerable to flooding.
The Musée d’Orsay, in a former train station on the Left Bank near the Seine, closed early to put in place a flood-protection plan that calls for swift evacuation of the museum’s Impressionist masterpieces and other works of art in the event of flooding.
The rainfall also disrupted the French Open, where several tennis matches have been postponed.
The Flooded Chậteau de Chambord
Photo: Ludovic Letot, AFP/Getty Images
Officials in France and Germany were bracing for even more rainfall this week. The Loing River, a tributary of the Seine, has risen to levels not seen since 1910, and the Île-de-France region, which includes Paris, got more rainfall last month than in any May since 1960.
President François Hollande said Thursday that the rainfall and floods were “very serious,” and linked them to global warming.
“When there are climatic phenomena of this seriousness, we must all be aware that we must act globally,” he said. He later added that the government would declare a state of disaster for affected areas, enabling residents and businesses to receive special insurance compensation. About 20,000 homes in France had lost power and an estimated 5,000 people had to be evacuated.
Meteorologists attribute the recent deluge to a dip in the jestsream that has trapped low-pressure air over much of France and Germany, where the air is then warmed by the sun. Warm, moist air has been flowing into the region around a cut-off upper low located near Austria. With the low stranded in place, thunderstorms have been recurring day after day, with severe weather threats extending across much of the continent.
European Storm Forecast Experiment
June 2, 2016, severe weather threats extend across the continent
The recent thunderstorms have been more intense than usual because the hot air rises to encounter colder air in the upper atmosphere. Generally, the greater the difference between the rising hot air and the colder high air, the bigger the storms.
Forecasters say there could be a few more days of rain before the low-pressure air finally moves on.
Evacuations in small boats in Souppes-sur-Loing, southeast of Paris
Photo: Kenzo Tribouillard, AFP/Getty Images
More than 3,000 people were evacuated from Nemours, about 50 miles south of Paris, after the Loing overflowed, flooding businesses and homes. The surrounding Seine-et-Marne area was on high alert for floods on Thursday, and 12 other administrative departments in the Île-de-France and Centre-Val de Loire regions were on the second-highest level of flood alert.
Traffic around Orléans, about 75 miles south of Paris, was blocked, and on Tuesday, 217 inmates had to be evacuated from a prison near Orléans. The Château de Chambord, a landmark in the Loire Valley, about 30 miles southwest of Orléans, was surrounded by water.
Flood guidance for Thursday, June 2, 2016 from VIGICRUES
note that the Loing aval flows north into the Seine à Paris
Meanwhile, central France has been hit hard by river flooding, where water levels have toppled century-long records in some places. Flood guidance on June 2 from the French agency VIGICRUES targeted the region from Paris south through the Loire Valley as one of the highest-risk zones.
Paris' 1910 Flood
Paris Floods, January 27, 2010
click on the image for a full-sized view
from New York Times
in part the 1910 article says
“Grim fear has settled upon Paris as it breathlessly watches the Seine rising steadily inch by inch, foot by foot, like a relentless fate."
The newspaper published pictures of endangered landmarks and accounts of those on the outskirts of Paris, whose only sustenance was "bread and foul water."
Record crests from 1910 have already been broken along the Loing, a tributary of the Seine. Thousands of people have been evacuated across the region. On Thursday, some riverbank sections along the Seine in central Paris were already closed as water flowed into the region from the south.
Le Zouave du Pont de L'Alma
already has his feet wet
One of the city’s most renowned benchmarks of high water, used long before computer forecast models to gauge the severity of floods, is the statue of a Zouave soldier at the Pont de l’Alma, built in the 1850s. This is the bridge made infamous by the death of Princess Diana on the adjacent quai in August of 1997.
The statue’s feet were covered on June 2, 2016 as the water height reached 4.45 meters, its highest level since at least 2001. During the city’s flood of record, in 1910, the water level reached the statue’s shoulders (8.62 meters). The Seine is predicted to crest between 5 and 6 meters on Friday, June 3, 2016 according to Le Monde.
Meanwhile in Florida
Florida Welcomes Tropical Weather
Parched north central Florida is hoping for rain, and it may finally get it. All of the reliable computer models used for forecasting tropical systems are now pointing to a tropical disturbance crossing Florida sometime Monday, June 6 to Tuesday, June 7. Some of the forecasts are now calling for 6-12-inches (150-300 mm) of rain from this low wind, high rain system.
NOAA (National Weather Service)
Forecast for 7-day accumulation of rain up to 6.00 inches
across the currently-driest part of Florida.
Florida has plenty of capacity for heavy rains especially considering it has suffered through many years of drought. Most lakes in north central Florida remain at record low levels and would benefit greatly from 12-inches of rain. We hope this forecast verifies.
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The banks of the Seine on June 3.
Photo: Pierre Terdjman for The New York Times
Flood Waters Reach the Waist of the Zouave
Above: Floodwaters lapping at the feet of the Zouave statue in 1936.
Photo: Agence France-Presse—Getty Images
Below: Le Zouave on Thursday, June 2, 2016. The water would eventually reach his waist.
Photo: Bertrand Guay/AFP
Staff at the Louvre scrambled Friday to move artworks to higher floors as Paris experienced its worst flooding in 30 years.
Photo: Markus Schreiber/AP
The Louvre, its glass pyramid covered by a black-and-white image of the museum, was closed as artworks in areas vulnerable to flooding were moved to higher floors.