Evening Republican, Volume 14, Number 76, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 30 March 1910 — PARIS A CITY OF FLOODS [ARTICLE]

PARIS A CITY OF FLOODS

Forty-six Serious Risings of the Seiaq Chronicled Since tho - 1733. • THE 810 INUNDATION OP Many Times the lie de La Cite, Ytlrfhplace of French Metropolis, Has Been Submerged. j.

Paris has had so many floods that the scientists and expert watchers of the Seine have classified them and divided them in to three groups, according to the height of the water registered on the gauges, the New York Evening Post says. It was on this river at Paris that the wojrld’a first system for forecasting floods was worked out, in 1864, and It has been In use ever since, so the city authorities of Paris knew weeks before of the calamity that was In store for them. , Since the dally readings of the flow of the Seine at Paris and other points were begun, In 1732, there have been forty-six floods, counting the recent one. According to the classification by height, thirty-one of the6e were “ordinary,” twelve “extraordinary" and three "exceptional,”. the exceptional ones being those of 1740, 180.2 and 1910. In the century preceding 1732 there were five devastating inundations of the city, that of 1658 being thd worst on record, until the present time. There Is no record of what the Seine did previous to 1632, but the natural conditions have been the same since long before the history of Prance began, so the little lie de la Cite, which was the beginning of Paris, and on which the Cathedral of Notre Dame was consecrated In 1182, must have been many times submerged. When Julius Caesar conquered Gaul, In 58-51 B. CT, the Parisll were a small tribe settled on the Island in’ the middle of the Seine, and they called it Lutetla. Constantius Chlorus, a Roman emperor, who had his residence there in the year 293, called It “his dear Lutetia,” which may have been the beginning of “that dear Paris.” Most of the structures demaged by the recent flood antedate the beginning of the flood records of Paris in 1649 by .many years, in some cases centuries. The Jardin des Plantes, which was the first institution to feel the efTects of the recent rising, is on the lower left bank of the Seine, near the entrance of the riVer within the city limits. Although a botanical garden, It includes a museum of natural history and zoological collection, chiefly famous for the bear pits. The Jardin des Plantes was founded in 1635 by Guy de la Brosse, physician to Louis XIII., and was originally nothing more than a collection of medicinal herbs. In 1793 the royal menagerie was transferred to It and in 1794 the library. Notre Dame, on the lie de la Cite, the famous walls of which have been washed by many floods, was founded In 1163 on the site of a church of the fourth century and was consecrated In 1182, but the nave was not completed until the thirteenth century. The foundation stone was laid by Pope Alexander 111., at that time a refugee In France. In 1793 Notre Dame was converted into a temple ot reason. The sculptures were muHlated and the statue of the Virgin replaced, by one of Liberty. The orgies of which the church became the scene led to its being closed the following year. In 1795 it was restored to the Catholics. Floods of the Seine present a mixed character, owing to the torrential nature of Its tributaries, the Yonne and, the Marne, which, with their high floods, exercise a predominating Influence on the floods of Paris. As the torrents from the farthest parts of the basin take only three or four days to reach Paris, whereas the floods of the tranquil affluents only arrive four or five days later, a great flood at Paris Is rarely the result of a single fall of rain. Generally, a high flood Is caused by the arrival of a second torrent from the rapidly flowing tributaries, before the long-continued floods of the slower branches have time to subside.

Only., two unusually bigh floods threatened Paris between 1860 and 191 Q. They were In March, 1876, and in January, 1883, reaching 21.33 feet and 19.69 feet, respectively, though the floods of December, 1872, and 1882, were only a little lower, as they rose to 19.19 and 19.16 feet. These last two floods were the first of unugual height to which the system of predictions and.warnings was thoroughly and successfully applied. The protections of Paris have been Increased 'from time tp time by the raising of the quals along the river and by prolonging the outfall sewers so as to place their outlets beyond the town; and embankments have been built for many of the low-lying districts. The rebuilding, also, of old bridges with more ample waterways and the improvements in depth for navigation have generally Increased the discharging capacity of the river.