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Desolation: Scenes from the Paris Flood of 1910
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By January 28, the flood has taken
over Paris. On the Quai de la Tournelle, the ground floors
of the buildings are flooded. In cafes and restaurants,
tables are bobbing by overturned chairs. Close to Notre Dame, in the background, the water is eight to ten feet high at street level, high enough to drown men and horses. |
| There is little difference between
the quais and the river. In streets by the Seine, the water
is running as fast as in the river itself. A policeman's boat is swept out from the Cours-la-Reine into the current, which overturns it; the policeman drowns. |
 |
| In the Latin Quarter, near the
Place Maubert, a single rowboat navigates the narrow streets.
Water reaches as high as the top of the ground floors of buildings.
Here the damage is to small shopkeepers, such as butchers and bakers, many of whom see their shops completely destroyed. After the flood, in some of the poorer quarters of Paris, entire streets will be desolated; no house will be livable, no inhabitant will have a job. |
 |
More pages on the Great
Paris Flood of 1910:
"A Two-Block-Long Swimming
Pool" | Fighting the Flood
| No Bridge is Safe
A Panorama of the Flood
|