© The Local France
The swollen river Rhone in Lyon, France
The floods in the French capital Paris are getting all the headlines, but the rising waters in France's second city, Lyon, are also causing concern.
The Saone and Rhone rivers meet in the city, and have broken their banks in the past, most recently in 2003 when the road by the Saone was cut and homes flooded just north of the city.
"
I spent all my childhood on the riverside and I rarely saw floods like this, it's pretty impressive," said one man.
"For the Saone, it's been years since we saw it in flood. In general, every winter it is in flood, but the
situation is exceptional this year for the Rhône because it is not often that it is in flood. The meeting of the two rivers - confluence - is catastrophic," said one woman.
The lower levels of public car parks closest to the river banks were evacuated and closed, exacerbating the already difficult parking in the city.
Some private garages were preparing to pump out water if needed.
"The car parks are completely flooded and you feel the lack of spaces in the city center," said one frustrated motorist.
Comment: Meanwhile hundreds of people have been evacuated, tunnels and roads have been sealed off and the bottom floor of the Louvre has closed as Paris braces for more floods. The River Seine burst its banks on Tuesday and reached 5.6m (18ft) high on Friday morning at the Austerlitz bridge in eastern Paris following days of heavy rain.
Meteo France said the rainfall was
double the average for this time of year. There
are predictions of 6m (20ft) for the weekend - just below the
6.2m it reached two years ago, which led to two people dying and several being injured amid a state of emergency.
See also:
Paris flooding to get worse as Seine expected to rise despite break from "double the normal rainfall" (VIDEO)
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