1910 Great Flood of Paris
The 1910 Great Flood of Paris (
Chronology
In the winter of 1909–1910, Paris and the surrounding area experienced higher than normal rainfall which saturated the ground and filled rivers to overflowing. In January 1910, Parisians were preoccupied with daily life and lulled into a false sense of security because the Seine's waters level had risen and fallen again in December. Consequently, they largely ignored reports of
By late January, the Seine River flooded Paris when water pushed upwards from overflowing
Winter floods were a normal occurrence in Paris but, on 21 January, the river began to rise more rapidly than normal. This was seen as a sort of spectacle where people were actually standing in the streets watching the water rise in the Seine.[5] Over the course of the following week, thousands of Parisians evacuated their homes as water infiltrated buildings and streets throughout the city, shutting down much basic infrastructure. The infrastructure was more vulnerable to flooding because most of it was built within the sewage system in order to avoid cluttering the streets.[4]
Police, firemen, and
Once water invaded the Gare d'Orsay rail terminal, its tracks soon sat under more than a meter (1.09361 yards) of water. To continue moving throughout the city, residents traveled by boat or across a series of wooden walkways built by government engineers and civilians.
On 28 January the water reached its maximum height at 8.62 meters (28.28 feet) above its normal level.[4] In March, the Seine finally returned to normal levels.
Consequences
Estimates of the flood damage reached some four hundred million
There were fears that an outbreak of disease would occur after debris from flooded homes piled into the streets, but no significant outbreak occurred.[3]
Literature and Media
- The Knowledge of Water by Sarah Smith, Ballantine, New York (1996) ISBN 0-345-39135-7
- The flood provided the setting for the 2011 animated film A Monster in Paris.
- In Stealing Mona Lisa (2011) by Carson Morton, the flood is the setting of the climax of the novel. ISBN 9780312621711
- In Bertrand Bonello's 2023 film, The Beast, the flood is depicted.
Image gallery
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Pont Alexandre III during the flood
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rue de la Convention
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Avenue Félix-Faure
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Cour de Rome, gare Saint-Lazare
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Rue de Poitiers
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Rue de Seine
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Rue Trousseau
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Trousseau Square
References
- ^ "Is Paris prepared if Seine floods?". BBC. 27 December 2013. Retrieved 27 September 2014.
- ^ Guguen, Guillaume (6 March 2016). "Paris region prepares in case of 'flood of the century'". France 24. Retrieved 17 October 2017.
- ^ ISBN 978 0-230-61706-3.
- ^ ISBN 978-0230108042.
- ^ ISBN 978-0230617063.
- ^ 7 January 2010, The Guardian, Flooding in Paris in 1910 Accessed 16 Dec 2010
Sources
Jeffrey H. Jackson, Paris Under Water: How the City of Light Survived the Great Flood of 1910 (NY: Palgrave Macmillan, 2010)
External links
Media related to Great flood of Paris in 1910 at Wikimedia Commons
- Crue de la Seine (in French)
- Postcard collection of flood photographs
- Images by photographer Pierre Petit
- Assemblée nationale website on the 1910 flood (in French)
- The flood's impact on Parisian hospitals Archived 31 October 2007 at the Wayback Machine (in French)
- L'explosition virtuelle Paris Inondé 1910: Galerie des bibliothèques, Ville de Paris
- Revisiting the flood 100 years later