French Waterways - floods

[Grehan]

Canals and rivers in France have been seriously affected by high rainfall resulting in swollen waterways, strong currents and flooding in recent weeks. Conditions are exceptionally unusual for this time of year. Avignon, on the Rhone, saw further problems this weekend when two barges (lighters, I think) broke free from their moorings, hitting one of the seven river cruise ships moored up whilst navigation is closed and hitting the TGV railway bridge.

More info - http://www.french-waterways.com/58486/

On the River Yonne (roughly, south-east of Paris) a British pèniche appears to have got holed and has sank. The 70/71 year old owners are ok.

 

[Athy]

So the unseasonal weather, though in a different guise, extends to France as well. In which direction are these heavy rains heading?

[Guest]

So the unseasonal weather, though in a different guise, extends to France as well. In which direction are these heavy rains heading?

 

We have been monitoring the Cahors area as we are off there in a few weeks and they have had some pretty damp weather down there for a couple of weeks now.

[Athy]

...and what a lovely town and area it is. Doubtless the weather will have had time to settle by the time the Dog House Crew gets there. Are you hiring a boat on the River Lot?

They make rather decent wine down there too, just in case this had escaped your attention!

Edited May 22, 2013 by Athy

[Proper Job]

They have had it pretty bad this year

 

To quote my folks:

Things are not going according to plan!

Having completely reorganised our cruising for this year we are no stuck south of Paris. We came off the canals onto the river Seine at St Mammes on 30th April, it was running a bit briskly but that was to our advantage; we should have realised it was more than just a bit brisk when we covered 60k and 6 locks in 6 hours. We eventually stopped above the lock at Every along with lots of ships. Next day was Bank Holiday so nothing moved.

Woken at 6am next day as ships moved into the lock in the dark and thick fog, the fog didn't clear till midday by which time it was too late for us to move and the barrage which had been half open was now fully open.

Despite a total lack of rain the river continued to rise until it was level both sides of the barrage, but the ships continued to plough up and down causing us to bounce about more than a little, but only between 6am and 8pm!

On Saturday morning the quay we were moored to went under water, still no idea where all the water was coming from but drinking water inside the boat was getting a bit short. After talking to the lockkeeper, (usual language problem) and the English speaking Capitan of the next port we decided to move. It took just 25 minutes to pass the the lock (normal drop 5' 6" but now only 6") and cover then 8k to Le Port aux Cerise where we are currently resident at €27 a day until there is an improvement. But at least we have internet. The Capitan says these conditions are normal for this time of the year as they release all the winter rainfall, can't imagine where they could store this amount of water! We came down in April/May 2006 and it wasn't like this.

 

12/05/13

Yesterday we went by train beside the river Marne and stopped off at Lagny and Meaux to check on the river; it was running briskly but manageable and there are several canal sections that by-pass the river.

 

We have also cycled to the locks above and below Port aux Cerises, the Seine is still running fast but the barrages are now one third closed and the water levels have fallen; it is about the same as when we entered the river two weeks ago. The weather forecast is not too bad so we have made the decision; tomorrow we go. If we are not happy we can always struggle back, just hope the radio works and we do not have to wait too long for the locks.

Other than the expense Port aux Cerises is a splendid port surrounded by parkland with good shopping within walking distance. Other than the frustration we have enjoyed our stay with lots of walking and cycling, the Capitan is exceptionally helpful.

 

19/05/13

36 hours of rain and the river is rising again, but we don't care because we are on the canal. Only 12 hours from Reims after 8 mind numbing days on the Marne.

 

It's been a bit damp over there

[Guest]

...and what a lovely town and area it is. Doubtless the weather will have had time to settle by the time the Dog House Crew gets there. Are you hiring a boat on the river?

They make rather decent wine down there too, just in case this had escaped your attention!

 

Cheers - no we are not boating but will no doubt we will take in some of the nearby waterways or may even do a day boat if we can find one.

 

We have visited Cahors once before and liked it so decided we'd like to see more of the area (and indeed drink more of the wine..!)

[Grace and Favour]

We have been monitoring the Cahors area as we are off there in a few weeks and they have had some pretty damp weather down there for a couple of weeks now.

Oh cajones!

[Tam & Di]

They have had it pretty bad this year

 

19/05/13

36 hours of rain and the river is rising again, but we don't care because we are on the canal. Only 12 hours from Reims after 8 mind numbing days on the Marne.

 

It's been a bit damp over there

 

Several canal sections in the Burgundy regions are currently drained, as floods have washed the banks away. The river Saône is running very fast, but is still a metre off flood levels. We've seen several hire craft out on the river!! I'm not sure that the hirers appreciate that there might be risk in what they are doing, and the hire companies certainly don't seem to tell them.

 

It was interesting to see a UK cruiser swing to head into the flow and come in to the pontoon at Tournus (near Mâcon), where a crew member leapt off with a stern line to moor, which meant there was a great kerfuffle with the steerer trying to stop the fore end being carried away by the flow and the crew desperately trying to avoind being pulled into the river! How do they ever get this far without accident?

[bargemast]

They have had it pretty bad this year

 

To quote my folks:

Things are not going according to plan!

Having completely reorganised our cruising for this year we are no stuck south of Paris. We came off the canals onto the river Seine at St Mammes on 30th April, it was running a bit briskly but that was to our advantage; we should have realised it was more than just a bit brisk when we covered 60k and 6 locks in 6 hours. We eventually stopped above the lock at Every along with lots of ships. Next day was Bank Holiday so nothing moved.

Woken at 6am next day as ships moved into the lock in the dark and thick fog, the fog didn't clear till midday by which time it was too late for us to move and the barrage which had been half open was now fully open.

Despite a total lack of rain the river continued to rise until it was level both sides of the barrage, but the ships continued to plough up and down causing us to bounce about more than a little, but only between 6am and 8pm!

On Saturday morning the quay we were moored to went under water, still no idea where all the water was coming from but drinking water inside the boat was getting a bit short. After talking to the lockkeeper, (usual language problem) and the English speaking Capitan of the next port we decided to move. It took just 25 minutes to pass the the lock (normal drop 5' 6" but now only 6") and cover then 8k to Le Port aux Cerise where we are currently resident at €27 a day until there is an improvement. But at least we have internet. The Capitan says these conditions are normal for this time of the year as they release all the winter rainfall, can't imagine where they could store this amount of water! We came down in April/May 2006 and it wasn't like this.

 

12/05/13

Yesterday we went by train beside the river Marne and stopped off at Lagny and Meaux to check on the river; it was running briskly but manageable and there are several canal sections that by-pass the river.

 

We have also cycled to the locks above and below Port aux Cerises, the Seine is still running fast but the barrages are now one third closed and the water levels have fallen; it is about the same as when we entered the river two weeks ago. The weather forecast is not too bad so we have made the decision; tomorrow we go. If we are not happy we can always struggle back, just hope the radio works and we do not have to wait too long for the locks.

Other than the expense Port aux Cerises is a splendid port surrounded by parkland with good shopping within walking distance. Other than the frustration we have enjoyed our stay with lots of walking and cycling, the Capitan is exceptionally helpful.

 

19/05/13

36 hours of rain and the river is rising again, but we don't care because we are on the canal. Only 12 hours from Reims after 8 mind numbing days on the Marne.

 

It's been a bit damp over there

 

I completely understand your parents, prefering to pay a fairly high mooring-fee instead of a risky nerve-wrecking cruise downstream if they didn't speak the language well enough to communicate with the lockkeepers to make sure the locks were ready for them.

 

The flooding has been (and in some places still is) pretty bad, I'm on the river Yonne, which has been closed for a good 2 weeks due to flooding, the Yonne is the main river feeding the Seine, and has more water coming down than the Seine at it's source, lots of trees came down and I had to constantly clear the mess between the boats, in the middle of this night there was a huge bang against my boat, and I was worried that this was due to another boat that had broken lose, but it worked-out to be a huge tree-trunk of about 5 meters long and some 60 cms in diameter, I had a hell of a struckle to get rid of it.

 

The captain of the Port au Cérises is wrong, it's extremely rare at this time of the year, to have the sort of flooding we've had, as it's normally after the winter when the snow is melting and that water is coming down, this time we've had in 2 weeks more rain than normally over a period of 3 months.

 

BTW your parents must have been a bit over-exited (understandable with the river conditions) when they counted the locks, as from St.Mammès to above Evry lock, there are only 4 locks to pass, probably more than stressful enough for them, and I'm happy to read that they are on quiet canal waters now, which will be much more relaxed, and no huge barges to share the locks with either.

 

Peter.

 

It was interesting to see a UK cruiser swing to head into the flow and come in to the pontoon at Tournus (near Mâcon), where a crew member leapt off with a stern line to moor, which meant there was a great kerfuffle with the steerer trying to stop the fore end being carried away by the flow and the crew desperately trying to avoind being pulled into the river! How do they ever get this far without accident?

 

I see this sort of stupid mooring technic happening very often, but you can't really blame the people for it, as they are hireboats that weren't given enough instructions.

 

But in your case, I imagine that this UK cruiser was a privately owned one, and one would expect the owners to know how to handle their boat under all circumstances, it amazes me that there aren't many more accidents due to this very bad, and dangerous boat handling.

 

Peter

Edited May 22, 2013 by bargemast

[Mrs Trackman]

A fascinating thread. We followed the river Yonne by train 3 weeks ago and were amazed to see how high the water levels were then.

[bargemast]

A fascinating thread. We followed the river Yonne by train 3 weeks ago and were amazed to see how high the water levels were then.

 

That's for sure, as the river was still closed then, water heights up and downstream of the locks was between nothing and 20 cms.

 

The river is flowing faster than normal at the moment too, after all the rain we've had the last week.

 

Peter.

[bargemast]

This is a never ending very bad start of the cruising season, as I just had the news that the Yonne is closed again between Auxerre and Sens since mid-day today due to flooding .

 

Peter.

[philjman]

Some more details on what happened to the Joli Coeur on L'Yonne.

 

http://frenchcampaign.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/friday-17th-may-destination-auxerre.html

Edited May 27, 2013 by philjman