PARIS UNDER WATER.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXXVII, Issue 12095, 12 March 1910, Page 3 (Supplement)

PARIS UNDER WATER.

SCENES DURING THE FLOOD

ENORMOUS DAMAGE

LONDON, Jan. 28,

Paris has been visited by a .terrible calamity. Torrents of rain and then heavy snow have produced floods, Avhich have' no parallel m France for o0 years. These; are bad- enough, but the Avorst part is that the Seine has assumed dangerous proportions, and Paris is iri danger of being submerged. The river rose 25ft above its normal level then went, still further to 27ft, and the surveyors and other authorities think that 28ft Avill be the maximum. The Seine rose steadily and relentlessly. The authorities are poAverless in ' the presence of , such a state of things, and ■no precautions can avail to check a flood which is beginning to paralyse the publice life of the city. Local trains have been stopped, suburbs are flooded, roads washed aivay, the se Avers .are broken, electric light cut off, . and dire misfortune threatens the city.

The Seine on Sunday Avas a rushing mill-race, avlioso tawny yelloAV Avaves almost lap f tho toils of the arches of the bridges, and extend right over the quay on either side of the river. The hoary high-Avater mark dated 1470, on the Pont Neuf, has been almost reached. The Paris correspondeint of the morning ;Pbst thus describes the scene on Wednesday : — ■■ "The life of the city is becoming more und more paralysed. Electric light is failing m all directions, teiephono service m precarious, and there is a perpetual danger of the drains, which are tilled to over-floAving, bursting through into the streets. .. The subterranean streams of Paris, the G rango Batelliere, which forms, ...a , lako beneath the Opera, is ' flooding iriany collars, and tho. mv finished electric.' railway from, north, to south,- Avhich'7 has 'become an - under&VQ.und riverVt-ircatens to ca-use the col^ lapse of the Montparnasse Square m the south and . "the ' Place St. -Lazare-in-the-north. Trains are f0r,... -Uie most part; unable lo riiri,, and .the, situation on the l^iL.M. .arid- Eastern railways is highly critical. Fear is expressed as to the' ■safety. of some of the bridges, especially m of,. the .fact.. : that as t,he rivet's r^' the problem of mooring the pontoons and barges becomes 'more 'arid' mora difficult. ' "The efforts of the authorities to cope a\ ithT tjib av'aiV'-hritv|Htl^v. A siibscripiitfii^list has bee'ri*-6p**eif6d, v head-; yd by the President of the Republic witli £800. Th^.Go^^.'.ot'':]^iß{eerßi contributes £240, the Bank of France £2000, and VAlo^srs- Rothschild £4000. Beds and -the dike are" being provided 'by' the military authorities, and food is being -. hurried " out 'to ',>tho -'suburbs Avhich' have been most affected. At Ivry, Avhich has been particularly affected, there has been aii outbreak of measles, and a number of. children have had to bo removed to fhe hospitals ; m this district, too, food is terribly scarce. Throughout Paris food prices continue to rise. -' •• ,- „ j '..'.-.," i ■ "Last night I made an attempt to reach Villeneiixe St. ' George by the river road, but the-. road had simply vanished, merged m tho Seine. I therefore had to follow up. the' course of the Marne as far as Alfortville, of ivhich the greater part is under Avater. Hero, again, I turned towards Villeneuve St. Georges. With 'great difficulty the motor made, its Avay through six or eight inches of Avater for a couple Of hundred, yards, and then farther progress -'Avas impossible. "It so happened that the route I had chosen coincided with that of the President of the. Republic, avlio Avas inspecting the rescue arrangements. With great difficulty his iriotor succeeded m reaching the. boundary of Chpisy le. Rfli, arid M. iMlieres made his Avay on foot to the raihvay embankment,, frpip . Ayhich it is possible to l....phiawt>'^'^vi ew^^•^3. s .'->th'ii. plain. Ankle deep m mud, M; _7aliieres irazed across a yelloAv sea of turbid water breaking m Avaves against the roofs and Avails of houses, - which emerged like islands; for, three or Jour ■■miles, thi? molancholy view. ,-. wub,'. unbroken , until' •■cross the river the loAV-lying hills .of "Viti'y-and Villejuif ryso above the flood. Thence the President made, his. Avav- to lvry-sur-Seiuc, whene ho- was c(*-u,voa*o-1 m a boat through the flooded slrr'rts. The imprisoned inhabitants wa-U-livd. from the windows and seeing M."" Co lit*-' .int, the Mayor of Ivry, accoiup-inying him called >Jout-vtli6iv'nt't , clti. sonic askii'i*for bread, others lor milk for llm child' rev. For half an hour M. Fallieres was punted through, tha plrects,, .ajul, at. Abo tit fiye o'clock ho returned; to. Paris. 7

Writing from Palis at mi I night on A\"edncsday,.« tho D-»iiy Al-iil tomispiu; - ent described the position m the city ir. the 'folioAving words: — "The Foreign Office- has been .pvacunl-' cd;=before the: rush of the,.flbott.(; iThc av uter is m th'o-: subterraiieiii-i-oha'pcls ofNritre Dam©. The heart of Paris is alTected.: ../Tlie*. liuo- St.7Monorc, -.tho Hue de Rome, and., the: PJni©.<:dii. Havre havo' subsided m places, ..and the Ktreets aro barred to traffic.' The cellars of , the Louvre are threatened. Those--ol* the Hotel Continental, m the Rue, do Riv '<}, are submerged,' arid the -electric light : .s extinguished. » The "so are .only a* few vof the- disustrpus incidents of thb' ilnj . And still tho Seine rises.^ ......,-. *'A large' section of tlio' thoroughfare m front of the Garo St7-Laza.ro ha)s been roped off and closed' 7to, traffic lest ; t should subsido, and the same has been done m :tho 'Rue-Royale, -.facingV tlie Madeleine., . ;,'l"lie, Chamber, of .Deputies is deprived /altogether., of ».cjectijic, light,* and only one' stove is . aA'ai'lablo for h^ttin*.. purposes. '-••** Should" things ."become Avorse it may be necessary for. ihh© • Deputies to transfer Parliament^ to the Cliateau' of Versailles. *...„i "At the, Palace of Justipe the' Avaters rose so rapidly m i.the. .subsoil tliat- there ivas no time to resciio the legal docn > ments contained in,_:tlie , cellars, ' and a diver had to-be. eiriplPyed' for that purpose. ■' The. -prisoners at the .Coinciergerie had: to. barempved .from their. -cells.,. Avhich Avere menaced by the .7, rush ofi water from the Seine. 7 > .7 77.7 '.*"-.. 7/ .There is considerable anxiety, concerning the Alma, bridge... „,T he,. city engineers are divided m., opjnip.ri.as to Avhother- it should be left standing . or bjowii'up, _ j; . Several d«ta.ohnieiits of bluejackets have., booiii.hurripd- up to Paris frpin Cherbp-irg, Havre, find other ports, and small, boats havo -beeiv commandeered ""from- the naval .bases arid frorii the fleetin tlie l&kefiiin.; the ißois.del 13ouloguo t-> •*.ssist m wiving tho inhabitants of inundated houses'"' ,

7lf ....riece-w/ir.v..;tbc .Government .-.will convert tho Pantheon into a vast dormitory. Measures aro being taken for the distribution of soups and provisions, of all kinds. The city is slowly, but surely, being cut off from the outer Avorld. Two of the principal raihvay stations, the ' Garo d'Orleans and Gar© des .Invalidcs, are murky lagoons, on the. surfaces of Avhich float railway sleepers. All tramway communication between the, Palis suburbs along tho Seine ; has ceased; The city is beginning to hin*e the appearance of a beleaguered toAvn. In many streets contiguous to the Seine ay hich the floods have not yet reached, soldiers or workmen ar© throwing. '.up' cement or sandbag defences to stave off the rising tide. Such expedients, lioaveypr,.'avail 'nothing when tho. Seine arrive*.

In official quai-ters the damage done, by the., floods is estimated at £40,000,000. It was hoped that the Avaters would reach their maximum by lost night. In face of the deluge, which/ threatened) the centre of the capital with wholsale destruction, the attitude of the; Parisians remains admirably calm.. There, are no signs of panic anywhere Architects, engineers, officials, and mili-; tary are doing everything m their, power to Stem the progress of the in-; vading , waters. In • curious contrast with tho devastating flood is the pre-> scire© .'her© and there of . an artist .transferring to canvas tho uiiAvonted scene, * Avhile ; nunici'ous ; anglers impassively: watch their bobbing floats m the swirl-' irig dirty-brown current. [The floods attained their maximum, after tlie date of our correspondent's letter, the Seine, as recorded m our cable messages, haying risen • to. 30ft, , great damage being done; m Paris and subiirbs.]-UAiickland • Herald.-