Paris’ world-famous museums, Louvre and Musee d’Orsay, were shut down on Friday to salvage valuable artworks from their basements, as the rain-swollen Seine river neared its highest level in three dec
Paris’ world-famous museums, Louvre and Musee d’Orsay, were shut down on Friday to salvage valuable artworks from their basements, as the rain-swollen Seine river neared its highest level in three decades.
Both the Louvre and d’Orsay Museum, which see a combined 12.5 million visitors a year, closed their doors so that artworks could be moved out of basement archives to higher floors.
Officials have erected emergency flood barriers along the Seine, whose banks are home to two of the world’s most visited museums — with attractions including the Mona Lisa.
At least 14 people have been killed in the floods that have wrought havoc in Europe after days of torrential rain, trapping people in their homes and forcing rescuers to row lifeboats down streets turned into rivers.
Parisians were urged to stay away from the Seine, which has spilled its banks in places and rose more than six metres above its normal level on Friday. Authorities said the river could swell to “perhaps 6.50 metres in a worst-case scenario”, comfortably beating the level reached during floods in 1982.
A small number of basement flats in the capital began to be flooded on Friday and the environment ministry also warned it was possible some residents in areas near the Seine in western Paris could be evacuated if necessary.
More than 20,000 people have been evacuated in France since the weekend and around 19,000 homes are without power.
Rescuers in the Parisian suburb of Longjumeau paddled up streets in lifeboats Thursday, while in the town of Montargis, only the tops of cars could be seen peeking above the surface.
“It’s beautiful. It is a reminder that nature is more powerful than man and we cannot do anything, only wait,” said Gabriel Riboulet, a 26-year-old entrepreneur, as he pulled his bicycle over to take a picture.
The downpours add to a gloomy atmosphere in France just a week before the country hosts the Euro 2016 football championships, with workers facing more train strikes Friday after months of protests and political turmoil.
French President Francois Hollande said a state of “natural catastrophe” would be declared when the cabinet meets next Wednesday, a necessary step to trigger compensation payments.
