Louvre Shuts Doors as Paris Gripped by Historic Flooding

Paris’s Louvre Museum is among the city’s historic landmarks being shut on Friday as heavy rains caused the Seine River to swell to levels not seen in over three decades.

“I am really sorry, but we’re closed today,” one Louvre staffer told visitors, the Associated Press reports. “We have to evacuate masterpieces from the basement.”

The Washington Post reports: “By early Friday evening, the Seine is expected to crest at approximately 21 feet, nearly 17 feet above its normal level. Authorities anticipate the water to remain high throughout the weekend but to gradually recede next week.”

The highest level the river reached was during the Great Flood of 1910, when waters rose to 8.6 meters (28.2 feet). In 1982, the river reached 6.18 meters (20.3 feet).

French President Francois Hollande on Thursday declared a natural disaster for the worst affected areas, saying, “When there are climate phenomena of such seriousness, we must all be conscious that it’s on a world scale and that we must act.” 

In addition to the catastrophe the rising waters have caused Paris, the problems may be even greater beyond its borders, the Local.fr reports, as “the flood defenses of towns outside the capital are less fortified and as result the water has poured in. The départements of Loiret and Seine-et-Marne to the south and southeast of Paris have been two of the worst hit areas with the floodwaters rising to higher levels than in the great flood of 1910.”

Newsweek reports, for example, that “In Nemours, south of the city, [located in the département of Seine-et-Marne] where Prime Minister Manuel Valls visited on Thursday, […] At least 3,000 out of 13,000 inhabitants were evacuated from the town.”