Paris is underwater as the Seine floods to near-historic levels

River levels are rising in Paris amid fears of a calamitous once-in-a-century flood that will leave much of the city submerged. The River Seine reached levels of over 18ft this morning and continued to rise into the evening. Paris authorities have closed several stations, roads, tunnels, parks, and the bottom floor of the Louvre Museum as precautionary measures. But it did not stop President Macron going for a dinner stroll alongside his wife, Brigitte, and the Argentina first couple. The floods are expected to reach their peak this weekend, with the river swelling to 20ft - considerably lower than the catastrophic Great Flood of 1910, when the river rose to 28ft - but urban planners have warned of the inevitability of a huge deluge. According to the French capital's Urban Planning Institute, a flood on the scale of the 1910 disaster would cost the region £17.5 billion. The OECD said it would cost more like £26 billion.