A postally unused carte postale that was produced by Staerck of Paris. The card has a divided back.
La Rue des Grands-Degrés is less than 200 metres from Notre Dame Cathedral, and is very close to the left bank of the Seine, well within the inundation area marked on the map below.
The 1910 Great Flood of Paris
The 1910 Great Flood of Paris was a catastrophe in which the Seine River, carrying winter rains from its tributaries, flooded the conurbation of Paris by rising over eight meters above its normal level.
Chronology of the Great Flood
In the winter of 1909–1910, Paris and the surrounding area experienced higher than normal rainfall which saturated the ground and filled rivers to overflowing.
However in January 1910, Parisians were preoccupied with daily life, and lulled into a false sense of security, because the Seine's waters level had risen but had then fallen back again in December.
Consequently, they largely ignored reports of mudslides and flooding occurring upriver. They were also slow to respond to warning signs within the city as the Seine's water level continued to rise.
The river began to flow much faster than normal, and large amounts of debris started to appear.
By late January, the Seine flooded Paris when water pushed upwards from overflowing sewers and subway tunnels, then seeped into basements through fully saturated soil. This led to the basements of many buildings sustaining damage.
The waters did not overflow the river's banks within the city, but flooded Paris through tunnels, sewers, and drains. These larger sewer tunnels were engineered by Baron Haussmann and Eugene Belgrand in 1878, and they magnified the destruction caused by the floods in 1910.
In neighboring towns both east and west of the capital, the river rose above its banks and flooded the surrounding terrain directly.
Winter floods were a normal occurrence in Paris but, on the 21st. January, the river began to rise more rapidly than normal. This was seen as an interesting spectacle where people were actually standing watching the water rise in the Seine.
Over the course of the following week, thousands of Parisians had to evacuate their homes as water infiltrated buildings and streets throughout the city, shutting down much of the basic infrastructure.
The infrastructure was more vulnerable to flooding than in many towns because most of it was built within the sewage system in order to avoid cluttering the streets.
Once water invaded the Gare d'Orsay rail terminal, its tracks soon sat under more than a meter (1.1 yards) of water.
Police, firemen, and soldiers moved through waterlogged streets in boats in order to rescue stranded residents from second-storey windows and to distribute aid.
Refugees gathered in makeshift shelters in churches, schools, and government buildings. Although the water threatened to overflow the tops of the quay walls lining the river, workmen were able to keep the Seine back with hastily built levees.
To continue moving throughout the city, residents traveled by boat or across a series of wooden walkways built by government engineers and civilians.
On the 28th. January the water reached its maximum height at 8.62 meters (28.3 feet) above its normal level. However by March, the Seine had finally returned to normal levels.
Consequences of the Flood
Estimates of the flood damage reached some four hundred million francs, or $1.5 billion in today's money. The worst of the flooding lasted nearly a week. Remarkably, despite the damage and duration of the flood, no deaths were reported.
There were fears that an outbreak of disease would occur after sewage and debris from flooded homes piled into the streets, but no significant outbreak occurred.
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