The Latest: Louvre to shut down, move art to higher floors
The Louvre museum in Paris says it will be closed Friday to remove artworks from rooms threatened by rising water from the Seine River.
Paris police, meanwhile, say their flood warning has been upgraded to "orange" level for areas in Paris near the Seine, which has overflowed its banks in many places.
Floods have inundated parts of France, Germany and Belgium this week, killing six people and trapping thousands in homes or cars as rivers burst their banks from Paris to Germany's southern state of Bavaria.
French President Francois Hollande says a "natural disaster" will be formally declared next week in a Cabinet meeting for areas most affected by the flooding that has hit Paris and France's central regions.
The procedure enables residents to get financial help from their insurance companies more quickly.
Floods have inundated parts of France, Germany and Belgium this week, killing six people and trapping thousands in homes or cars as rivers burst their banks from Paris to Germany's southern state of Bavaria.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel is promising continued help for flooded areas of southern Germany, where five people have been killed this week amid the floods.
Floods have inundated parts of France, Germany and Belgium this week, killing five people and trapping thousands in homes or cars as rivers burst their banks from Paris to Germany's Bavaria.
The German state of Bavaria is promising quick financial help to residents in areas near the Austrian border hit by flooding this week.
According to the dpa news agency, Bavaria's governor, Horst Seehofer, has pledged "quick and unbureaucratic help," saying his state "won't abandon those affected, some of whom have lost their whole homes."