Paris floods: Seine at 30-year high as galleries close

The River Seine in Paris is at its highest level for more than
30 years, with floods forcing closed parts of the metro
systems and major landmarks.
The Louvre and Orsay museums were shut while staff moved
artworks to safety as flood levels climbed above 6m (18ft).
The Seine is set to reach as high as 6.5m and unlikely to
recede over the weekend, with more downpours forecast.
At least 15 people have died across central Europe as heavy
rainfall caused flooding from France to Ukraine.
While two people died in France, 10 were killed in southern
Germany as several towns were devastated.
Two more fatalities were reported in Romania and one in
Belgium. Austria, the Netherlands and Poland have also been
affected.
Tens of thousands of people have been forced from their
homes.
The flooding could cost French insurance companies more
than 600 million euros (£470m), according to the industry
association AFA.
In Paris, the Cluny - La Sorbonne and St Michel metro stations
were closed as a precaution while the river spilled onto the
city's streets.
Bridges were closed and non-emergency boats were banned
from the Seine as its swelling forced the closure of museums,
parks and cemeteries.
At the Louvre, curators scrambled to move 250,000 artworks
to higher ground from basement storage areas at risk of
inundation from what President Francoise Hollande called
"exceptional flooding".
Authorities have even taken initial steps to transfer the
presidency and key ministries to secure areas, AP news
agency reported.
An apparent equipment fault led to the river's depth being
wrongly measured for several hours on Friday.
Many locals have preferred to benchmark the rise against the
statue of a soldier - known as the Zouave - standing below the
Alma bridge: His frame is currently submerged up to the waist.
While France's rainfall levels in May were the highest since
1873, the current crisis is eclipsed by the 1910 floods that
saw Paris submerged for two months , when the Zouave was
up to his neck in the Seine.
The river level peaked at 8.62m that year, and has since
reached 7.1m in 1955 and 6.18m in 1982.
Are you in France or Germany and been affected by the
floods? Or run a business or project which has closed due to
flood damage? How are your family and neighbours coping?
If you have an experience you would like to share, or pictures
of the flooding where you are, then share it with us in the
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