A boy fishes in the Seine
river during floods in Paris on June 5, 2016. The riverside Grand
Palais exhibition hall in Paris reopened Sunday as floodwaters slowly
receded from the French capital, though risks remain for other regions.
(AP Photo/Thibault Camus)
PARIS—The riverside Grand Palais exhibition hall in Paris
reopened Sunday as floodwaters slowly receded from the French capital,
after the worst floods in three decades caused the Seine River to burst
its banks.
Other regions remained at risk, notably parts of Normandy, as digging out began in villages and towns around the French capital.
The Louvre Museum, several Paris train stations and roads remained
closed. Quayside restaurants along the Seine were still engulfed in
water Sunday and tourist boats were unable to pass under bridges, a blow
to the riverside economy.
The glass-topped Grand Palais, built for the 1900 World’s Fair and
currently hosting an exhibit by avant-garde Chinese artist Huang Yong
Ping among several others, opened again Sunday after closing Friday
because of flood risks.
Elsewhere, emergency crews were pumping water out of a key Paris
highway interchange. South of the capital, 300 cars and big rigs trapped
for four days on a highway were being removed and returned to their
owners who had been forced to abandon them. The complex, day-long
operation “is going quite well,” Gendarmerie Captain Laurent Terrien
told BFM-TV.
After a week of exceptionally heavy rains around Europe, at least 18
people died in flooding in Germany, France, Romania and Belgium. New
thunderstorms were forecast for eastern France on Sunday. In Normandy,
the Seine River was expected to peak later in the day. More than 11,000
French homes are still without electricity.
In Paris, the Seine peaked Saturday and the national flood service
said it would remain about 4 meters (more than 13 feet) above normal
Sunday. Authorities warn it will take up to 10 days for the river to
return to normal.
The flood risks along the Seine moved downstream after forcing
thousands from their homes and houseboats earlier this week. West of
Paris, it overflowed around the medieval city of Rouen overnight, but
the local administration said Sunday the damage was “localized and
limited” and severe flood warnings for the area were lifted.
Townsfolk were digging out southeast of Paris in the hard-hit
Seine-et-Marne region around Nemours, where the Loing River overflowed.
Small animals at a local zoo were among the victims. BFM-TV showed what
looked like the lifeless body of a baby lamb hanging in tree branches.
German authorities on Sunday pulled the plug on the Rock am Ring
music festival west of Frankfurt after a new storm warning was issued.
Late Friday, a lightning storm sent 70 people from the festival to the
hospital.
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