Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1910-02-04
The Peril of Paris.

Paris and other cities and towns along
the River Seine, in France. have recently
been flooded by the overlooking waters Of
that river, The population of those cities
underwent great mental and bodily suffering
during the week that their homes were al
most inundated and the property loss is
reported to be about $100.000,000. Last
Tuesday the high waters began to recede.
The New York Tribune describes the sit
uation in Paris in the following interesting
article:
Two circumstances combine to place the
city of Paris peculiarly in peril of floods
its situation and its vast system of under
ground architecture. Nor Is this disaster
by any means a rare one. Overflows of
the Seine have several times assumed the
proportions Of widespread calamity, Not
in 80 years, however, has the flood proved
so serious.
The country in which the city lies is
shallow alluvial basin much of it like the
Lower Mississippi Valley. below the river
level, Through this plain winds the Seine,
concentration of several large tributaries
rising in widely separated mountain re-
gions and uniting in the Seine above Paris.
II, therefore, takes comparatively little
rain or melting snow in the uplands to
swell the Seine to flood in its lower course
When there is an unusual rainfall, as now
this becomes an uncomfortable torrent, al
ready greatly augmented by flood condi-
tons at its own source in the mountains
of Cote dor. Among these tributaries are
the Aube, Yune, Loing and the Marine.
From its mountain source to the city the
Seine follows direct course, keeping to
its broad main channel. Entering the CITY,
N ar hat IL hod
a series Of windings. Thus the concen-
trated floods of all the wide damage area
in Central and Eastern France pile up till
they leap over into the low waterfront
streets of the city, flood and burst its
sewers and subways and undermine build
ings Add to these conditions the numer-
GUS islands that block the stream during
its course through the city and banks at
its mouth and the tidal pores that back up
from the sea, impeding the onrush in the
channel, and the conditions of disaster are
complete.
The sewers of Paris. made famous by
Victor Hugo, since the seventeenth century
despite their great service, have compli-
Gated flood perils. The city's foundation is
literally honeycombed, and under the food
pressure these vast tunnels burst and I'M
dermine the foundations of the buildings.
The main sewers are 10 feet in diameter
and the total length of this network of
drains is 900 miles. AS these tubes also
contain water conduits, gas pipes, tele-
graph, telephone and power wires and the
pneumatic postal tubes the effects of a
bursting sewer are greatly complicated.
Another phase of underground Paris is
the catacombs, extending under a consid-
cradle part Of the left river bank.
A modern addition to the underworld
and the part in which there has been the
greatest food damage at present is the
subway system. This began with the open
ing of the Metropolitan Underground Rail
way in 1900 and has been continued till
the city has been interlaced by network
Of tunnels. The main line runs east and
west through the center OF the city from
the Porte de Vincennes to the Port Maillot,
distance of seven miles. Another more
northerly line from Place de la Nation to
the Boulogne makes loop of eight miles.
The new line under construction. in which
there have been bad cave-ins during the
last week, extends under the Grand Boule-
ward from the Place de la COncorde through
the Rue R0yale to the Place de la Bastille,
and thence across the Seine through the
Boulevard st. German to the Chamber of
Deputies. The Orleans road also enters
the city by the subway.
Paris altogether covers 10000 acres. of
which the Seine occupies 1,760 The river
averages 200 or 800 yards in width and
its length in the city is seven miles. Paris
at its lowest levels is only 80 feet above
tide water
The present food began with heavy
storms on January II. Besides Paris the
towns Of Villancourt. Argenteuil, Asnieres.
Sevres, Meudon, Lille, Chalons, Troyes.
Montereau, lie st. Denis. Avry, Vitry, Mai
sons-Laiitte, Argenteuil, Poissy, Tours-sur-
Marine, Juvigny and many others are Sc
verely affected