Paris
shuts Louvre museum to protect artworks as flood waters rise
Two
of the world’s greatest art museums take emergency action to
protect their collections as the level of the River Seine rises to a
threatening level
3
June, 2016
Officials
have closed Paris's Louvre museum so its priceless artworks can be
moved to safety amid the threat of flooding from the nearby River
Seine.
The
Musée d'Orsay, on the opposte bank of the river, also closed early
on Thursday night as a precautionary measure.
The
Louvre will remain closed on Friday to allow staff to evacuate tens
of thousands of “reserve” paintings and sculptures in its
underground store rooms.
Fears
had been growing all day of serious flooding in Paris as the European
football championship approaches – despite official assurances that
all should be well.
As
scores of towns to the east and south of Paris suffered their worst
flooding for decades, the river Seine rose above its “preliminary”
alert level of 5 metres on Thursday afternoon.
The
Seine quays were awash. A popular island near the Eiffel Tower was
submerged. Pleasure launches and commercial barges were banned from
passing through the French capital.
Elsewhere,
a motorway slip-road in eastern Paris was inundated and closed, and
services on a suburban railway line which hugs the left bank of the
Seine, RER C, were suspended.
François
Duquesne, head of Vigicrues, the agency which monitors water levels
in France, said: “The Seine is still rising but we are far from the
8.5 metres recorded in 1910 (when large areas of the capital were
flooded for 45 days). We should see a rise to a peak of around 5.6
metres overnight.”
Valentine Maury
My dad just sent me this pic from Paris, that's crazy #Seine
The
flood alert level in Paris is at yellow, the third highest but is
expected to be upgraded to orange shortly.. One department just east
of Paris, Seine et Marne, is on “red alert”, the highest level.
Several other departments within the Seine catchment area are at the
“orange” or second highest alert level.
Other
experts warned that the weather and flood levels remained
unpredictable, a week before the Euro 2016 national football
tournament begins in Paris next Friday. A giant “fan zone”,
capable of hoisting up to 100,000 people has been built on the Champ
de Mars, beside the Eiffel Tower and close to the river.
Flooding
approaching the 1910 levels would put the fan zone under water.
In
its emergency plan the Louvre has 72 hours to remove works in its
underground reserve. The Musee d'Orsay has 96 hours. Both museums
held drills this year to deal with floods.
In
March the Louvre evacuated the whole of the underground section of
its Islamic art galleries in a day.
The
floods in other parts of northern France claimed a second victim on
Wednesday night when the body of an 86-years-old woman was found in
her home. A toddler was drowned in Burgundy last weekend.
The
Prime Minister, Manuel Valls and interior minister Bernard Cazeneuve
visited Nemours, 80 kilometres (50 miles) south of Paris, whose town
centre has been completely evacuated. President Francois Hollande
declared a “natural catstrophe”.
“In
60 years of living here I have never seen this,” Sylvette Gounaud,
a shopworker in the town, said. “The centre of town is totally
under water, all the shops are destroyed.”
The
main A10 motorway from Paris to the south west remains flooded north
of Orléans. On Wednesday, 650 motorists and truckers were stranded
after the motorway turned into a river. Amphibious army trucks were
sent to rescue them.
Paris
flooding: River Seine bursts its banks as France prepares to host
Euro 2016
In
a diagonal band of territory from the Bay of Biscay to the Belgian
border, rainfall in the month of May was two and a half times the
normal level.
A
catastrophic Paris flood is overdue. The last occurred in 1910 and
the city has been flooded by the Seine on average once a century.
The
latest weather forecasts suggest that a spell of drier weather should
begin this weekend.
The
bad weather has added to disruption caused by a series of strikes
which began last week but the industrial action appears to be
weakening.
Air
traffic controllers abandoned a planned three day stike over the
weekend. An indefinite rail strike entered its second day but one of
the three union federations involved pulled out.
A
partial strike on the Paris Metro had no significant effect on
services. Strikes at nuclear power stations caused electricity cuts
in some areas.
The
industrial action is partly linked to a confrontation between
militant unions and the government over reform of unemployment law.
Rail and aviation unions also have their own specific grievances.
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