1910 : La Seine en crue paralyse la capitale

Journaliste, Conseiller en environnement urbain

Abstract

In 1910 Paris was in the middle of its modernization. Fresh water, drainage, gas, electricity, compressed air, rubbish disposal, telegraph, telephone, trams, underground and railways, all these amenities were already at the disposal of Parisians. To preserve the urban landscape most of the networks were underground and the factories outside of the city. All this protected from rain water. But the rise of the water level of the Seine and its ground water broke through its defenses. In a few days the water had flooded the factories on the embankments, rushed into the underground sites, came back up the sewers and overun the cellars. All the networks including those which supply energy were affected, paralysing the city even in areas far from the river. Besides the suffering inflicted on some Parisians and the inconvenience of the cleaning up operations imposed on a lot of people, the flooding of the Seine cost community a lot. But it accelerated the modernisation of the capital and helped develop the idea of better prevention of floods.