Seine at highest level as Paris’ museums shut doors

MNA International Desk: Paris’ Louvre and Orsay museums have shut their doors in a race to move art treasures from their basements, as the River Seine nears at its highest level in more than three decades.

Environment Minister Segolene Royal said the Seine had breached six meters in central Paris, submerging riverside roads, swamping small businesses on quaysides and forcing the closure of an underground commuter line.

Throughout Europe, at least 17 people are believed to have been killed in floods that have wrought havoc after days of torrential rain, trapping people in their homes and forcing rescuers to row lifeboats down streets turned into rivers.

French President Francois Hollande made a late night visit to the Louvre, where dozens of volunteers worked through the night to save some of the 38,000 artworks thought to be at risk.

The Louvre and the Musee d’Orsay are both home to world-renowned art collections, the former including the celebrated Mona Lisa painting and Venus de Milo statue.

The famous tree-lined riverside walkways of Seine, usually the evening haunt of strolling couples, were inundated with eddying water.

France’s Environment Ministry said the Seine is expected to peak at between 6.10-6.40 metres during the night local time potentially higher than the floods of 1982.The record remains the 8.62 metres reached in 1910.

Paris firefighters warned people to keep away from dangerous parts of the river, but crowds still gathered on the famous Pont du Carrousel Bridge to watch the swirling waters.

A small number of basement flats in the capital began to flood on Friday and the Environment Ministry warned some residents in areas of western Paris might have to be evacuated.

Withdrawing waters of Seine could disclose further victims

Persistently heavy rainfall across western and central Europe has swollen rivers and claimed victims from at least four countries.

Eleven people have been killed in the German states of Bavaria and Baden-Wuerttemberg, and two in Romania, while a beekeeper died in Belgium while trying to save his hives.

In France, a man on horseback drowned on Thursday after being swept away by a swollen river in Evry-Gregy-sur-Yerre, southeast of Paris. At Montargis in the north-central Loiret region, police also said they had found the body of a woman in her 60s who had apparently drowned.

Segolene Royal said she feared more bodies would be found as waters receded in villages in central France, some of which have suffered their worst floods in a century.

More than 20,000 people have been evacuated in France since the weekend and around 18,000 homes are without power, the electricity distribution network Enedis said.

Losses across France could reach more than 600 million euros ($925 million), said Bernard Spitz of France’s association of insurers.

Prime Minister Manuel Valls said the Government would meet insurance industry representatives on Monday to ensure that flood victims would be “rapidly and efficiently” compensated for their loss.

The downpours added to a gloomy atmosphere in France a week before the country hosts the Euro 2016 football championships, with workers facing train strikes Friday after months of protests and political turmoil.