When the city of lights drowned
By Caroline Weber |
January 31, 2010, Sunday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
PARIS may be known as the City of Light, but "the City of Water" would be just as apt. Since its origins as an island outpost in the middle of the Seine, the city owes some of its greatest advantages -- trading routes, military security and fertile farmland -- to its riverside position.
That placement has also, however, long made Paris vulnerable to flooding. In late January 1910, she seemed perilously close to sinking, as unusual weather conditions combined with faulty engineering along the city's quays to unleash a record-breaking flood.
The distinction between Right and Left Banks, which had defined Paris since time immemorial, had all but washed away. Within the space of a week, the City of Light had become, as Jeffrey H. Jackson writes in "Paris Under Water," "a drowned city."
Jackson, a professor of history, discovered the story of the Paris flood not long before Hurricane Katrina ravaged New Orleans, but he keeps a strict narrative attention on Paris in 1910. The result is a tight, concentrated tale of adversity and survival -- of the ravages the untamed waters wrought and of the citizens' courageous efforts to save their city (and themselves) from ruin.
His noblest character is the intrepid Louis Lepine whose role as Paris' prefect of police included not only law and order but also street and river traffic, trains, firefighting, food supply, waste disposal and public health, all demanding attention as floodwater rendered entire sections of Paris impassable.
Jackson tells his story in an evenhanded way, describing the egotism, violence and treachery that surfaced.
That placement has also, however, long made Paris vulnerable to flooding. In late January 1910, she seemed perilously close to sinking, as unusual weather conditions combined with faulty engineering along the city's quays to unleash a record-breaking flood.
The distinction between Right and Left Banks, which had defined Paris since time immemorial, had all but washed away. Within the space of a week, the City of Light had become, as Jeffrey H. Jackson writes in "Paris Under Water," "a drowned city."
Jackson, a professor of history, discovered the story of the Paris flood not long before Hurricane Katrina ravaged New Orleans, but he keeps a strict narrative attention on Paris in 1910. The result is a tight, concentrated tale of adversity and survival -- of the ravages the untamed waters wrought and of the citizens' courageous efforts to save their city (and themselves) from ruin.
His noblest character is the intrepid Louis Lepine whose role as Paris' prefect of police included not only law and order but also street and river traffic, trains, firefighting, food supply, waste disposal and public health, all demanding attention as floodwater rendered entire sections of Paris impassable.
Jackson tells his story in an evenhanded way, describing the egotism, violence and treachery that surfaced.
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