Paris on flood alert as rains inundate France

Paris was on flood alert on Wednesday, with the Seine bursting its banks and swamping riverside highways after four days of almost non-stop rain caused severe flooding in the central Loire Valley area and southeast of the French capital.

The A10 Paris-Bordeaux motorway and rail lines north of Orleans were cut by floods, as was the main rail line from the eastern city of Metz toa Luxembourg. Residences, schools and a retirement home were evacuated in the town of Montargis, 110 km (68 miles) south of Paris.

The national weather service said France had endured the wettest month of May since records began 150 years ago. Emergency services have responded to some 8,000 call-outs, Interior Minister Berhard Cazeneuve said. Officials said the Seine was set to rise to a peak level of 5.60 metres on Friday, below the 6.00 metre level that would flood the RER underground railway and far below the 8.60 metre record hit in 1910.