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Flood Update

We walked to the Chartrettes lock yesterday to see how things were progressing. Answer: getting better. The Seine is down by six-eight feet below the locks and much of the surrounding banks that were under a lot of water Saturday are now dry. Some comparisons:

This is looking at the locks last Saturday:

Yesterday we could actually see the locks. On Saturday, the areas along beside the lock and the grassy area were under about six inches of water.

Boaters enjoying new areas to explore Saturday:

Back to dry(-ish) ground yesterday:

We’re guessing another four or five days before the river barges start to operate again; the river is still running so fast that a barge would have a hard time. So many of them are holed up in St. Mammès, which is kind of the headquarters of the Seine River barges (pèniches).

The pèniches made it through the flood far better than did many residents of St. Mammès. The water level reached about five feet above ground level of the houses nearest the rivers (Seine and Loing). Today we saw many houses with piles of water-logged junk in front waiting to be hauled away.