PARIS — The Louvre museum in Paris moved scores of art works to safety and soldiers evacuated residents trapped in some of the capital's outlying suburbs as the swollen river Seine hit its highest level in 30 years.
France's environment minister Segolene Royal said the Seine had breached 19 feet in central Paris, submerging roads running along the river, swamping small businesses on quaysides and forcing the closure of an underground commuter line.
The worst affected areas lie to the south of the capital. In Villeneuve-Saint-Georges, located near to Paris' Orly airport, soldiers and Red Cross volunteers helped stranded residents as floodwaters rose above knee level. In nearby Corbeil-Essonnes, locals kayaked along streets littered with abandoned cars.
Image: A police officers hangs on a military vehicle on its way through the flooded suburb of Villeneuve-Trillage in Villeneuve Saint-Georges
A police officers hangs on a military vehicle in the flooded suburb of Villeneuve-Trillage outside Paris on Friday. CHRISTIAN HARTMANN / Reuters
"It's a bit frightening, everything that's happening," said one woman from Marseille who identified herself only as Odile. "Not long ago they ran a flood simulation, how to evacuate museums, residents. And now it's happening for real."
Both the Louvre and Orsay museums overlooking the Seine were closed to the public on Friday. In the Louvre, workers stacked dozens of boxes marked fragile and containing valuable statues, vases and art works. Crates could be seen stacked in corridors, overlooked by classical marble statues.
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