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WEATHER

Paris on alert as River Seine breaks banks and keeps on rising

The River Seine in Paris has flooded and water levels just keep going up.

Paris on alert as River Seine breaks banks and keeps on rising
File pic: Beginning of January 2018/ AFP
The river's water levels are now at 4.33 metres at the Pont d'Austerlitz in the city's 5th arrondissment. 
 
The city remains on yellow alert — the third highest warning — for flooding, according to the environment ministry's Vigicrues flood watch website, and the walkways next to the river banks have also been closed. 
 
As for the famous tourist boats, the Bateaux-Mouches, they are no longer sailing, leaving scores of tourists disappointed. 
 
“We have given our customers who made reservations this Sunday evening the opportunity to dine if they wish. For the rest, we do not know yet how long the closure will last,” reported an employee of the company. 
 
During the floods of 2016, the boats were closed for a week. 
 
By comparison, during that flood the River Seine reached 6.10 metres. And in the “flood of the century” in 1910 water levels reached 8.62 metres. 
 
For the time being, firefighters and the police remain vigilant but with rain forecast for much of the day in Paris and the surrounding region, water levels are due to rise further.
 
 
This isn't the first time this month that Paris has contended with rising flood waters. 
 
The River Seine also flooded after Storm Eleanor, with water levels doubling from 1.6 metres to 3.2 metres in just one week.
 
And Paris isn't the only place in France currently on alert for flooding, with flood warnings extended across the country on Monday morning.
 
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France weather latest: Flood warnings extended as downpours continuePhoto: AFP

WEATHER

Denmark records deepest snow level for 13 years

Blizzards in Denmark this week have resulted in the greatest depth of snow measured in the country for 13 years.

Denmark records deepest snow level for 13 years

A half-metre of snow, measured at Hald near East Jutland town Randers, is the deepest to have occurred in Denmark since January 2011, national meteorological agency DMI said.

The measurement was taken by the weather agency at 8am on Thursday.

Around 20-30 centimetres of snow was on the ground across most of northern and eastern Jutland by Thursday, as blizzards peaked resulting in significant disruptions to traffic and transport.

A much greater volume of snow fell in 2011, however, when over 100 centimetres fell on Baltic Sea island Bornholm during a post-Christmas blizzard, which saw as much as 135 centimetres on Bornholm at the end of December 2010.

READ ALSO: Denmark’s January storms could be fourth extreme weather event in three months

With snowfall at its heaviest for over a decade, Wednesday saw a new rainfall record. The 59 millimetres which fell at Svendborg on the island of Funen was the most for a January day in Denmark since 1886. Some 9 weather stations across Funen and Bornholm measured over 50cm of rain.

DMI said that the severe weather now looks to have peaked.

“We do not expect any more weather records to be set in the next 24 hours. But we are looking at some very cold upcoming days,” DMI meteorologist and press spokesperson Herdis Damberg told news wire Ritzau.

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