The Deadly Floods Sweeping Europe

France’s President Hollande declared a state of natural disaster Thursday, as the death toll from floods sweeping much of Europe reached 10 casualties. After an exceptionally wet few days where some regions received several months’ worth of rain within a few hours, France, Germany, Austria and Belgium have all seen high waters and burst river banks, causing floods that have blocked roads, inundated towns and cut power supplies. Rural areas have been among the worst hit, notably the banks of the river Inn that divide Germany and Austria and the Loiret Department around the city of Orléans, southeast of Paris. Within France, the floods’ epicenter now seems to be moving closer to the French capital.

The mixed suburban and rural Seine-et-Marne department is on red alert and has already witnessed a casualty, an 86-year-old woman discovered drowned in her home in the department’s rural south. Just to the north, the ex-urban city of Nemours has been effectively separated into two unbridgeable sections by floodwater. Within Paris itself, the Seine is at a level of just over 5 meters, causing several quayside streets, metro and RER stations to be closed off.