Officials have closed The Louvre, located on the bank of the Seine, and the Musée d'Orsay on the opposite side of the river to allow staff to evacuate literally thousands of paintings and sculptures. Both museums held drills earlier this year to deal with floods.
Heavy rains in parts of France have left some cities flooded. The famous 16th century castle Chateau de Chambord is surrounded by water.
My dad just sent me this pic from Paris, that's crazy #Seine pic.twitter.com/h0ERWhhzf1
— Valentine Maury (@Val_Mry) 2 июня 2016 г.
The river has already risen 5.6 meters above normal levels. Vigicrues, an agency which monitors water levels in France, said that the water is still rising; however, the current situation is far from the 8.5 meters recorded during a catastrophic flood in 1910, which left large areas of the capital submerged for 45 days.
The flood alert level in Paris is at yellow, the third highest, but is expected to be upgraded to orange shortly. French President Francois Hollande declared a state of natural emergency and said he hoped the country was encouraged to take action against climate change.
