# Paris Seine Flood Impact How rising water from the Seine would reach Paris, from the low quays in 2016 to the record flood of 1910 on a model of the city\. By Arnaud BAMIERE Topic: Earth & Geography [Open the interactive Jig](https://ask.jig.com/j/cqQXQWnDeBhR) ## Transcript ### 1. Paris on a tabletop This is a small model of Paris\. The Seine river winds about 13 kilometres through the city, under 37 bridges\. Today it is calm\. Let's see which places get wet when it rises\. Drag the table to turn it\. Heights are stretched so a few metres of water show up\. ### 2. Hills and a valley Paris sits in a wide river valley\. Montmartre and Belleville rise about 100 metres above the river\. But a flat, low band hugs the Seine, and it is lowest in the west and the south\-east\. Each line on the ground marks another 10 metres of height\. ### 3. Reading the river People measure the Seine on a gauge at the Pont d'Austerlitz bridge\. A gauge is like a giant ruler standing in the water\. On a normal day it reads about 1 to 2 metres\. Blue ring: a normal day\. Orange: 2016\. Red: the great flood of 1910\. ### 4. June 2016: the quays go under After weeks of heavy rain, the river reached about 6\.1 metres\. The low riverside walkways and roads went under water\. The Louvre and the Musée d'Orsay carried art from their lower floors to safety\. A flood like this is slow: the river climbs a couple of centimetres an hour, over days\. ### 5. January 1910: the great flood In 1910 the gauge reached 8\.62 metres, the highest level of modern times\. Water spread into low neighbourhoods on both banks\. The glowing roofs show the buildings whose ground sits below that level in this model\. 12 of the 20 districts of Paris had flooded streets\. Flooded areas here are approximate\. ### 6. Water from below The Seine did not only spill over its walls\. It pushed back through sewers, drains and the new metro tunnels\. That is how water reached Gare Saint\-Lazare, more than a kilometre from the river\. Today, a flood like 1910 would close many metro and RER lines\. ### 7. Raise the river yourself Slide to choose a level on the gauge, from a normal day to 1910\. Watch the low quays go first, then the low streets of the west and the south\-east\. The hills stay dry\. ### 8. Ready for the next big one A flood as big as 1910 has about a 1 in 100 chance each year\. Experts usually see it coming two to four days ahead\. Reservoirs upstream, higher building floors and flood plans help Paris stay ready\. In 1910 the water took more than a month to go back down\.