The prelude to the 1910 flood was a long spell of prolonged, heavy rain, just as we’ve been experiencing in this part of the world during the first three months of 2013. When the floods hit Paris, about 300 streets were flooded and much of central Paris was under water; people had to go along the boulevards by rowing boat. Parts of the Champs-Elysées were under water up to treetop level. A total of 12 out of the 20 arrondissements of Paris were flooded, with 20,000 buildings flooded and 200,000 people made homeless. Amazingly, official figures show that only one person died as a result of the floods, although unofficially, the toll was said to have been higher.
However, the flood did have one beneficial effect; it created a unity among Parisians that proved vital during World War I, which started four years later. A fascinating book on the subject of the 1910 floods was published three years ago; it was written by an American history professor called Jeffrey H. Jackson and published by Palgrave Macmillan. The photographs in Paris Under Water: How the City of Light survived the Great Flood of 1910 are absolutely extraordinary.
You can see one of the high water marks of the flood in the 7th arrondissement. It’s at the top of the Rue Bellechasse, the same street that houses the Musée d’Orsay. The mark shows how during the flood, the water level of the nearby River Seine crept about 30 metres above its normal levels.
A similar flood is expected in the reasonably near future, but of course, no-one can forecast exactly when. Recently, the bateaux mouches were banned from going under the bridges around the Ile de la Cité, because the Seine had reached a height of 3.6 metres, compared with over 8.6 metres during the
1910 flood. Next time round, the damage would be much more significant, with estimates of up to five million affected; a million people would be deprived of electricity and 1.5 million of drinking water. Virtually the whole of the Métro would be flooded as would much of the RER network and the Péripherique motorway would be impassable. It wouldn’t affect just Paris but much of the Ile
de France. The next big flood could last for about two months and cause €40 billions’ worth of damage, compared to the €1 billion in today’s money caused by the 1910 flood.
Already, many preventative steps have been taken, including the construction of four new reservoirs to control the flow of the Seine and Marne rivers. Precast sections of wall are being made that will be used to heighten the levels of the riverside walls. The rivers have been dredged and emergency evacuation plans are being developed.
It all sounds very commendable and hopefully practical in the event of the next big flood. Before
the 1910 flood, no-one knew it was going to happen and so no preventative measures were put in place. In 2005, Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans, similarly unprepared, but the French are determined not to be caught out next time.
And talking about infrastructural projects, there’s a very agreeable one under way in Nice, where a city centre greenway for walkers is being built. It stretches from the National Theatre of Nice to the Albert 1er gardens, in other words, a good stretch through the city centre. The Coulée Verte should be ready for people to stroll along at their leisure, by September.
Elsewhere in France, the news isn’t so good. The auto industry, for long a mainstay of French industry, is having a torrid time; people just aren’t buying new cars and many speculate that the love affair between younger people and cars is coming to an end. One of the three big French auto brands, Peugeot, is planning to lay off 10,000 people and close its huge factory at Aulnay near Paris.
Now comes news that the French budget minister Jérome Cahuzac has resigned, the first minister to quit the Hollande regime. Cahuzac was in charge of managing the the programme to cut the French public deficit, but he had been accused of salting away money first in Switzerland and then in Singapore, to avoid tax.
This time last year, most people in France were clamouring for the replacement of Nicolas Sarkozy as French president; what we got was François Hollande, which just shows you shouldn’t wish too hard for what you want! Now, many people would welcome back the dynamic Sarkozy, a fine turn of events!
Meanwhile, the Cyprus bailout, considered a small issue irrelevant to the rest of the Eurozone just a few days ago, is now a potential Eurozone-wide crisis that’s growing by the hour. And don’t believe a word of what the politicians are saying. The Irish government has been making much of the fact that the Cyprus situation is unique to that small economy and the measures proposed for Cyprus will have no bearing on Ireland.
I always think it’s a good idea to stand politicians’ promises on their head to find out what really likely to happen. If they think it’s a good idea to slap a levy on people’s savings across the Eurozone, especially in the more fragile economies, then that’s exactly what they are going to do. Don’t say you haven’t been warned! After the two parties that now form the coalition government in Dublin came to power two years ago, they made a whole rash of promises, few of which have been kept. And how many of the promises made when the Tories and the Lib Dems formed a coalition government in London in 2010 have been honoured?
France has also had to put up with some very bad weather, just as has happened in the UK and Ireland. Last week, lots of snow engulfed much of northern France, including Paris. It gave rise to
some spectacular photos of Paris in the snow, as opposed to Paris in the spring. The past few days have also seen some really wet and chilly weather in the south east of France, including the Cote d'Azur. This coming Saturday in Paris, it looks like the city will be getting cloudy but dry weather. But with a maximum daytime temperature of only around 9 degrees Centigrade, a far cry from the lovely spring weather we can normally expect in Paris at this time of year, as the greenery bursts forth in the city.
At 5pm French time on Saturday (6pm in UK and the Ireland),the new bells of Notre Dame will ring
forth for the first time. The inauguration of the new bells promises to be a monumental occasion and a promise of hope in a sorely troubled world. Who knows, one of these fine days, we may even have the arrival of a normal spring!