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France hit by floods with more rain on the way

Two French regions near Paris were on maximum flood warning on Wednesday after torrential rainfall left towns under water and motorists trapped on a motorway near Orleans. More storms were expected to hit France on Wednesday night.

The sailboat La Boudeuse on the Seine in Paris on 31 May 2016
The sailboat La Boudeuse on the Seine in Paris on 31 May 2016 Reuters/Charles Platiau
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The Seine-et-Marne and Loiret departments were on red alert on Wednesday after the Loing and Loiret rivers, tributaries of the Seine and the Loire, burst their banks in several places.

The town centres of Nemours and Montargis were flooded and homes and businesses evacuated, although no deaths or injuries were reported.

The floods were worse there than in the record year of 2010, according to the MΓ©tΓ©o France weather service.

Three old people's homes and a prison were also evacuated and 650 motorists were stranded on the A10 motorway between Saint-Arnoult-en-Yvelines and Orleans, south of the capital, with 200 transported in military lorries to a temporary shelter housed in a sports centre.

Railways affected by flooding

Rail travel, which was also hit by a strike, was disrupted between Paris and Orleans, Paris and Chartres and the eastern town of Thionville and Luxembourg, a line that carries up to 10,000 people to work across the border every day.

There was some flooding of lines in the Paris region and the Seine had risen to 3.82 metres on Tuesday.

The rain moved south on Wednesday but more was expected to arrive from Belgium and Germany on Wednesday night.

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