The camp, recently set up under the Pont de Sully, in the fifth arrondissement, was cleared as waters rose 10cm on Tuesday, peaking at 4.03m before starting to recede. At 9am on Wednesday, water levels had fallen below the 4m mark, at 3.99m. 

Léa Filoche, deputy mayor responsible for solidarity and emergency accommodation, estimated that “there were more than 400 homeless people living on the river banks” in the capital. She called for “rapid emergency shelter for people living on the quays”.

Quays were flooded under the Alexandre-III bridge (seventh and eighth arrondissements), with the river twice as high as usual in Paris. 

Several roads along the river bank have been closed for safety reasons, including stretches between Pont Royal and Pont de l’Alma, the portion between the Tuileries and voie Mazas, and between the Pont du Garigliano and the Pont de Bir Hakeim.

Vigilance will remain high over the coming days, despite the overnight fall in water levels, but the expectation is that the Seine floods in the capital will not break any records. In January 2018, levels reached 5.88m above normal, and rose as high as 6.10m in June 2016. 

In January 1910, floods reached a record 8.62m.