ZuaveCopyrighted Digital Image

Zuave 2

Déjà Vu All Over Again

I “printed” the top image of “the Zuave” in black and white in order to echo the historical images of the Paris flood of 1910. The walls of the Seine in Paris have been significantly raised since that date and the Pont d’Alma was rebuilt in steel in 1970, such that today’s photographer has to take more risks leaning over the balustrade than prior to 1970, as per the historical image (courtesy of Vosges Matin). 

The high water mark for this year’s flood reached his upper thighs, a long way from the shoulder level of 1910, but this level of flooding left significant damage in its wake in central Paris, not least because of the amount of leisure infrastructure which has progressively replaced the riverside motorway in recent years.

The third image gives a little taste of what happened and a warning about how much worse a repetition could be. The heavy wooden blocks are part of the street furniture on the Quai d’Orsay, which I hope will be fixed to the ground in future, since I observed at least one sailing ship at anchor desperately trying to prevent others from holing their ship and smashing its gangway.

Pont Alexandre III in floodCopyrighted Digital Image

Let It Begin With Me (Not!)

On a purely selfish note, I live a few streets away from the river within the flood zone, and observed the rise of the sewer waters beneath out basement garage to within 1.5 metres of our building. I now know that the Zuave will be a useful measure for me to decide when to move my junk out of our “cave”. I guess that when it reaches his waist, next time, we will have a few hours to save our stuff. That said, the speed of the rise and fall of the waters was truly amazing to behold and I could be kidding myself.

So, the point of this week’s blog is:

1. The statisticians spoke of a “centennial  event in 1910
2. 106 years later, the event was still only a taster of greater things to come.
3. “The Big One” is still out there (think about that any Californians among you)

Copyright Paul Grayson 2016 All Rights Reserved