Paris mayor plans awareness campaign for residents against flood risks
City could become ‘unlivable’ due to global warming, warns climate study
The recent devastating floods in Spain have raised the question of what a major flood the Seine would mean for Paris (pictured in 2022)
rabany sebastien / Shutterstock
Parisians are to be invited to crisis meetings from 2025 to address the risk of flooding, under plans announced by the mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo. It follows a report by NGO le Réseau action climat published in September that warned the city could become “unlivable” due to global warming.
The recent devastating floods in Spain together with the report by le Réseau action climat have raised the question of what a major flood the Seine would mean for Paris.
Read more: Floods, fires, and drought: ‘Shock’ France climate change report
Indeed, the wet October has made such an event seem all the more likely: the month saw Storm Kirk bring 70mm of rain in 24 hours on October 9 - the most precipitation the city has measured in a day since 1924.
The following week 35mm fell in a single hour, resulting in one death due to a falling tree in the 19th arrondissement.
Nonetheless, the authorities are ready, says Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo.
“[There are] plans and regular exercises on the Seine, but I would like us to raise awareness among the population of Paris as a whole, to give them the capacity to take action by informing and training themselves,” Ms Hidalgo told Agence France-Press on November 9.
Under Ms Hidalgo’s awareness campaign, which could begin in April 2025, “all Parisians will be invited to meetings in the marie of their arrondissement… to explain how to behave in the event of flooding”.
One of the key points to remember, said Ms Hidalgo, is to not “go down to your car park to get your car out, because that is where you're trapped”.
Read more: Flooding 'never before seen' in south of France, six departments on red alert
There will also be “in situ crisis exercises”, “advice on how residents can improve their property’s water resistance,” and “experimental developments to improve urban water runoff.”
The scheme falls under a wider 50 point plan announced by the mairie "to develop a risk culture”, and “to strengthen local mutual aid between Parisians”.
Among the 50 points of the plan are contingencies for extreme heat, and the creation of an annual ‘resilience campus’ - an annual festival that will raise awareness of how to act during crises.
The plans are subject to a council vote in November.
