After the rains
Rivers in France have risen higher and higher after record rainfall fell onto the northeast of the country over the past several weeks.
The Seine is expected to reach a peak of up to 6.2 metres (20.3 feet) in Paris over the weekend, four to five meters above its normal height, after the third-wettest December-January period on record since data collection began in 1900.
(AFP Graphics)The rising waters have flooded roads that run along the river, but most of the damage has hit areas outside the capital, where boats are now the only way to get around the streets.
A quick look at what the water has wreaked:
All eyes are now on the Zouave statue at the Alma bridge, the traditional gauge of Seine water levels.
The Zouave on Thursday, January 25, 2018. (AFP / Geoffroy Van Der Hasselt)
(AFP / Geoffroy Van Der Hasselt)
River quais closed and houseboats now out of easy reach:
(AFP / Ludovic Marin)
(AFP / Stephane De Sakutin)
(AFP / Stephane De Sakutin)
(AFP / Christophe Simon)
Outside Paris, streets turned to rivers:
A resident of ViIlleneuve-Saint-Georges cleans debris on a flooded street, January 25, 2018.
(AFP / Philippe Lopez)
The river Loue in Ornans, eastern France, after bursting its banks on January 23, 2018.
(AFP / Sebastien Bozon)
Rowing your boat on a flooded street in Villeneuve-Saint-Georges, southeast of Paris, on January 24, 2018.
(AFP / Thomas Samson)
A flooded street in Marnay, eastern France, on January 7, 2018.
(AFP / Sebastien Bozon)
A statue in Kehl, at the French-German border, after the Rhine river burst its banks on January 23, 2018. (AFP / Frederick Florin)
