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Paris Metro closures and evacuations as floods push on across France

The Local France
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Paris Metro closures and evacuations as floods push on across France
All photos: AFP

Rain has continued to fall in France, meaning the floods in Paris and beyond are set to hang around.

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Several Metro stations in Paris were closed on Thursday morning as floodwaters got onto the tracks, while areas in northern France remain underwater. 

National weather agency Meteo France has issued orange alerts to 11 departments across the country, including the four departments that make up Greater Paris.  

The other departments on alert are Seine-Maritime, Eure, Val-d'Oise, Yvelines, Seine-et-Marne, Marne, and Aube.

Orange is the second highest alert and when in place people are advised "to be very vigilant" due to the danger. The public are advised to stay away from the water's edge. 

The floods are mostly causing havoc along the Seine River outside of Paris. Thursday saw 150 people evacuated at Elbeuf in Normandy. 

Local police told Le Parisien newspaper that dozens of homes in the area were flooded. 

Meanwhile, in the Eure department to the north of France, 16 towns are without drinking water, reported France Bleu.

While flood waters have actually been receding in Paris itself, the rail operator RATP shut down part of the Line 9 Metro on Thursday morning. 

It said that water on the tracks prompted a shut down of the line between the Porte de St Cloud and the Pont de Sèvres stations. It was back up and running by the early afternoon.

While flooding is by no means over in the city of Paris, with waters are still far higher than usual by the riverside - it's not set to last for long.

“The maximum water levels were reached on Monday and the Seine has begun its slow decline,” the environment ministry's Vigicrues flood watch website said in a Thursday bulletin.

It added that the water levels would remain high for several more days.

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