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WORLD NEWS Saturday 27 January 2018

Floodwaters threaten Paris, closing roads, tunnels, cellars

By SAMUEL PETREQUIN right bank in the west of the
Associated Press French capital said he had
PARIS (AP) — Parisians re- the ground-floor windows
mained largely unfazed boarded up after residents
Friday as the Seine River lost most of their belonging
continued to rise and ap- in the 2016 floods.
proach peak levels. “The first residents left three
The Paris region has been days ago and yesterday or
deeply affected by the the day before. Everybody
floods that hit the country was gone here,” said Joao
over the past week, but in De Macedo. “They put ev-
the capital city, it was busi- erything up on concrete
ness as usual for the most blocks.”
part. The Seine will hit its De Macedo said he had
peak soon, but without sur- noticed the water was
passing record levels, ac- also making its way into
cording to Vigicrues, the the building through the
body in charge of monitor- cellar’s floor and was pen-
ing flood levels. etrating the walls.
The Seine reached 5.60 The situation is far more
meters (more than 18 feet) difficult outside Paris. Ex-
Friday morning at the Aus- ceptionally heavy rains
terlitz bridge in eastern Par- A resident walks in a flooded street of Esbly, east of Paris, where the Grand Morin river floods have caused power out-
is. It was expected to keep Thursday, Jan.25, 2018. Parisians remained largely unfazed Friday as the Seine River continued to ages and forced about 400
rising, reaching a peak of rise and approach peak levels. evacuations from homes
six meters (20 feet) over (AP Photo/Thibault Camus) elsewhere on the Seine af-
the weekend. That’s under bystanders gathered at the Crimean War, which is witnessed several other ter it and other French rivers
the 6.2 meters the Seine the Pont de l’Alma to ad- used by Parisians as a refer- floods. “I wouldn’t say it’s burst their banks.
reached two years ago, mire and take pictures of ence point to measure the spectacular, but it’s a spe- The floods caused signifi-
and far below the levels the Seine’s muddy waters. Seine’s level. By midday Fri- cial atmosphere. It’s nice to cant damage in the sub-
reached during the 1910 Just in front of the bridge day, the Zouave had water watch the waters running urbs. They will also have an
Great Flood, when the close to the tunnel where up to its thighs. faster.” Only a few Paris res- economic impact on the
Seine water rose to 8.62 Princess Diana was killed “I’m here to take pictures idents have been forced to businesses operating boats
meters (more than 28 feet). in a car crash stands the and souvenirs,” said Marc leave their homes on the on the Seine, since all river
While the 2016 floods led to Zouave. It’s a statue rep- Bernard, a 59-year-old man Seine riverbanks. The man- traffic has been banned
the death of two people resenting a soldier from who was born in Paris and ager of a building on the until further notice. q
and left several injured in
the Paris area, no victims
have been recorded dur- Report: Dutch spies caught Russian hackers on tape
ing the current episode of
flooding. By RAPHAEL SATTER Reports carried in the re- Dutch Interior Minister Kaj- official comment from the
Paris authorities have MIKE CORDER spected daily Volkskrant sa Ollongren, interviewed Dutch intelligence services
closed several tunnels, Associated Press and by the current affairs by reporters in The Hague on the matter.
parks, and the bottom floor AMSTERDAM (AP) — The show Nieuwsuur said hack- before the government’s “If the Dutch media want
of the Louvre Museum as Netherlands’ spy service ers working for the Dutch weekly Cabinet meeting, to fuel anti-Russian hysteria
precautionary measures. broke into the computers General Intelligence and declined to address the in the U.S., it’s an activity
Roads on the river banks used by a powerful Russian Security Service penetrat- report, saying only that she that can’t be called honor-
have been closed, as hacking group and may ed the computers used was “very happy that we able,” he added.
well as seven train stations be sitting on evidence re- by the group, often nick- have good security servic- Volkskrant and Nieuwsuur
alongside the river, but the lating to the breach of the named Cozy Bear, in mid- es in the Netherlands that said that the Dutch spies
moves didn’t cause ma- U.S. Democratic National 2014 and watched them do their work well.” used their access to help
jor disruption in the City of Committee, a Dutch news- for at least a year, even President Vladimir Putin’s oust Cozy Bear from U.S.
Lights. On a cold Friday paper and television show managing to catch the spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, State Department comput-
morning, a small group of jointly reported Friday. hackers on camera. said he had yet to see any ers in late 2014. q