Paris Under Water: How the City of Light Survived the Great Flood of 1910, by Jeffrey H. Jackson (HC, 2010, $4)
This book is from my own library, and it was a recent purchase for $27.
First of all, did you know that part of Paris, especially the Right Bank, was built on a swamp? Or that 32,000 years ago, the Seine actually had two branches, but only the southern one still exists today?
Flooding has always been a problem, especially in the winter. In 1658 the river rose more than 20 feet above normal, but after dredging and other techniques were used, Paris relaxed... until 1909, when the summer was extremely wet. And January was really wet. And the temperatures in the mountains were hotter than usual, so most of the ice and snow melted at one time. Add to all this that many up-stream forests had been cut down, and the scene was set for disaster.
You can read about it here. Look or this book on the new non-fiction table, avail. 1/4. (Later:gen.nf)
