Human consequences
Thousands of residents evacuated; in Paris, 20,000 buildings are flooded and 22,000 cellars invaded by water polluted by the sewers. People get about by boat, which is how members of parliament reach the National Assembly.
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FloodGreat Flood of Paris
0Deaths
Not quantifiedDisplaced / homeless
$77MEstimated cost
- No deaths directly attributed to the flood are recorded, despite the scale of the damage.
- About 400 million gold francs of direct damage, more than 1.6 billion euros in 2014 terms.
After weeks of rain on saturated ground, the Seine rises for about ten days and reaches 8.62 m at the Pont d’Austerlitz on 28 January. For more than a month, whole districts of Paris and its suburbs live with water up to their ankles.
Consequences
Environmental consequences
The sewers back up into the streets; the Zouave statue on the Pont de l’Alma is in water up to his shoulders. The water takes about 35 days to recede.
Economic consequences
The metro, power stations and railway stations are paralysed: 400 million gold francs of direct damage, and 50 million distributed in relief.
Political consequences
It remains the reference flood for prevention plans in the Paris region and led to the building of large reservoir lakes upstream of Paris in the 20th century.
Further reading
Similar disasters
- Malpasset Dam failureFlood · France1959
- Storm XynthiaFlood · France2010
- Vajont disasterFlood · Italy1963
- Yellow River floodFlood · China1887
In the rankings : The deadliest floods No. 9
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