Louvre to close in Paris on Friday as floodwaters rise

The Louvre museum in Paris halted entries on Thursday and will be closed to the public on Friday to allow priceless artworks to be removed if the swollen River Seine keeps rising higher, an internal email to staff showed.

“The museum will remain closed to the public tomorrow out of precaution: there is no danger to the public or our staff but will allow us to calmly remove certain art collections should it be necessary,” the email seen by Reuters stated.

After days of torrential rains, the French government has issued an orange alert for central Paris, with the Seine’s water level bursting through five metres. Its record high was 8.60 metres during the devastating floods of 1910.

Rivers elsewhere in Europe burst their banks, killing a total of 10 people – nine of them in Germany – and trapping thousands more in homes and cars.

About 25,000 homes are without electricity because of floods in the Paris region and central France and more rain is forecast for the coming days.

President Francois Hollande declared a state of emergency in the worst affected areas and promised money to help local authorities deal with the flood damage.

“Since yesterday it’s just been a deluge,” said Jerome Coiffier, an inhabitant of Longjumeau, less than 20km south of Paris, where firemen wading thigh-deep in water rescued inhabitants using inflatable boats.

French prime minister Manuel Valls visited Nemours, 75km south of Paris, where at least 3,000 out of 13,000 inhabitants were evacuated, as flood water crept towards the second storey of buildings in the town centre. He called the situation "tense".

France’s meteorological service said severe flood watches are in effect in two Paris-area regions: Loiret and Seine-et-Marne. Eight more regions, including three on the German border, face flood warnings as well. Tourist boat cruises have been cancelled and several roads in and around the capital are under water.

Days of heavy rain have caused exceptional delays to the French Open tennis tournament and may force it into a third week. Authorities shut down a suburban train line that runs alongside the Seine, serving popular tourist sites like the Eiffel Tower, the Invalides plaza and the Orsay museum. Other subway lines in Paris are running normally despite the flooding.

In the Loire valley in central France, the renowned castles of Chambord and Azay-le-Rideau were closed to the public because of floods in their parks.

An 86-year-old woman died in her flooded home in Souppes-sur-Loing southeast of Paris, the French government said.

Germany

On Thursday, five people were found dead in the southern German state of Bavaria. They included three women from one family, in a home in the town of Simbach am Inn; a 75-year-old man in the same town; and an 80-year-old woman in the neighbouring village of Julbach.

Three others were missing, and the death toll could rise, Michael Emmer, a spokesman for police in Lower Bavaria, told the German news agency DPA.

German chancellor Angela Merkel is promising continued help for flooded areas of southern Germany. Mrs Merkel told reporters in Berlin that she “mourns for those for whom the help has come too late, who lost their lives in the flooding”. She said disaster relief is on hand to help control the floods and rebuild damaged areas.

The floodwaters in Bavaria receded on Thursday and disaster relief crews were helping to clear the wreckage, but there are warnings of more storms.

Belgium also endured a fourth day of heavy rain, with flooding reported in several areas. After widespread flooding hit northern Antwerp and the west of Flanders early in the week, waters kept rising in eastern areas around Limburg and Liege.

Several neighbourhoods have had to be evacuated as cellars flooded and streets were submerged. A major train line linking eastern Limburg to the capital of Brussels had to be temporarily suspended early on Thursday.

Agencies