FLOODING IN EUROPE - Paris & Germany

by Guest Thu Jun 02, 2016 5:03 pm

Five killed amid heavy flooding in Europe

Kim Hjelmgaard, USA TODAY 11:46 a.m. EDT June 2, 2016
BERLIN — Severe flooding across Europe led to the deaths of at least five people this week as forecasters warned Thursday of more rain and rising waters, while thousands were evacuated.

The floods swept away cars, stranded people on rooftops and trapped schoolchildren. The floods continue to threaten homes and businesses near Paris, French media said.

Three victims died in the same house in the Bavarian town of Simbach am Inn on Wednesday, according to German news agency DPA. A fourth person died in Rottal Inn. Both towns are in southeastern Germany near the Austrian border. Several hundred students in Simbach am Inn and the nearby town of Triftern were rescued after being trapped at school.

In France, emergency workers conducted more than 8,000 rescue operations over the past two days from the Belgian border south to Burgundy, Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said. An elderly woman was found dead Wednesday in her flooded house in Souppes sur-Loing in central France.

Areas along the Loing River, a tributary of the Seine, have water levels unseen since 1910, when a massive flood swamped the French capital. Paris closed some roads along the Left Bank as the Seine River rose 14 feet higher than usual. Boat cruises on the Seine popular with tourists were canceled.

“Well, my normal running route is completely gone,” Jordan Muller, 25, who is from Seattle and lives in Paris, told the Associated Press. “I usually run up the stairs (toward) the Eiffel Tower. Got to the stairs and they are underwater. So I had to turn around. I have to find a new running route today,” she said.

France's iTele broadcaster reported large-scale evacuations in the town of Nemours, about 50 miles south of Paris.

It said 400 firefighters and police were at work there removing people from flood-hit homes.

Residents evacuate their home in Nemours, south of Paris, June 2, 2016. Jerome Delay, AP

Flooding was also reported in Belgium where some train service was temporarily suspended, and several neighborhoods in Antwerp and Liege were evacuated as water overflowing from creeks and rivers flooded streets and cellars.

Large parts of western Europe have experienced heavy rain and thunderstorms since the weekend. While the waters have receded in some areas, German weather service DWD forecast more rain and storms in the coming days.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2016/06/02/five-killed-amid-heavy-flooding-europe/85282538/

Seems that the high winds that Sassy and Eddie had mentioned have been sending torrential rains into Italy and Germany --- WOW Europe's own form of 'monsoon storms'!