Seine floods Paris! Museums and landmarks closed down

The Orsay and Louvre museums of Paris were closed down as the Seine River has reached its highest water level in almost 35 years. The officials were expecting this floody rise sometime on Friday because of the non-stop rains, in the Country.

Reports are in that the famous Louvre and Orsay museums have been closed to the public because of the unusually rising water levels of the Seine River in Paris. There is a lot of flooding reported in the country because of the incessant rains. The rains have tapered but the Seine River is still in spate, confirm officials.

On Friday, the already swollen Seine River spilled onto the streets of Paris, and the landmarks of the city were ordered to be shut down, these included parks, cemeteries and museums. The city has also been braced for evacuation orders.

Audrey Azoulay, The Culture Minister, told the journalists, “We evaluate the situation for all the (cultural) buildings nearly hour-by-hour. We don’t know yet the evolution of the level of the Seine River in Paris.” Early on Saturday, it was said that Seine would peak in Paris to about 5 metres above normal. This is nearly 16 feet and 3 inches more than its normal level. The Grand Palais, the opulent glass-and-steel topped exhibition center of Paris has also been shut down.

The curators of at the Louvre, which hosts the famous “Mona Lisa”, are on their toes as they are busy trying to put nearly 2,50,000 artworks that are lying in the storage areas of basements to safer upper areas.

Heavy rains have caused serious flooding in many European town and almost 16 people have been reported dead and many missing because of the flood situation. The Paris Railway stations have also been shut down and the traffic is snarled to quite an extent because of the flood choked roads. It may take weeks to get things streamlined though the rains have lessened in some areas say the authorities.