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We are currently 9 days before the start of EURO 2016 in France, and Paris and the surrounding areas are currently facing one of, if not the worst floods since 1910. the banks of the river Seine have flooded, villages are having their elderly evacuated and the weather forecasts aren't really promising for the next few days.

In addition, there are large scale protests around the entire country because of measures taken by the Valls government concerning employment reforms, which include mass strikes, road blocks, street protests, power outages,... In effect, many people are unhappy with the measures and are voicing their discontent.

There is also the state of emergency following the November terrorism, but I already created a question about that a few months ago. this is about the consequences of these more recent issues beyond the state of emergency, meaning the weather and the mass protests.

Hopefully the floods and protests will end before EURO 2016, but in case they continue to cause concerns, what are the consequences for tourists that plan on visiting Paris and even staying a few nights for EURO 2016? Assuming that there are consequences, obviously.

  • Could the metro be shut down?
  • How about buses and the Peripherique?
  • The airports?
  • Could any major tourist attractions also be closed?
  • In case the floods and discontent become really severe and the Valls administration has to take extra measures, what effects could those measures have on EURO 2016 and tourists?
  • In general, what extra precautions should tourists planning to visit take to avoid problems?

These questions may sound somewhat vague and irrelevant, but to my knowledge, these are the most extreme circumstances that a major sports event in Europe has had since the end of WWII:

  • Inclement weather;
  • A national state of emergency caused by recent terrorism;
  • An economical recession that we're only just climbing out of;
  • Large scale union actions;
  • Corruption scandals in the organizing body;
  • An ongoing migration crisis;

and probably some other stuff I forgot. I would be extremely surprised if there wasn't at least some consequence of all this for tourists beyond what was mentioned in the answers to the state of emergency question linked above.

Note: while this question is tagged , it's entirely possible that other cities where a match is hosted could also be affected by any of these 6 extreme circumstances. In this case, feel free to mention the other hosting cities that could suffer from these or similar consequences.

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    Note: as I said, I asked a similar question in April (linked in the question), but I decided against editing that question because it would partially invalidate existing answers due to the changed situation. In case people disagree with that, let me know and I'll see if I can edit that other question.
    – Nzall
    Commented Jun 3, 2016 at 8:26
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    It's a fine question, the US Dept of State sent a travel alert to Americans abroad last week about this and other issues, so this question is topical and current.
    – Gayot Fow
    Commented Jun 3, 2016 at 11:26
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    Flooding is only in Paris of the large cities and you are talking about things like "the metro", obviously referring to Paris. Many cities have metro lines, but this question clearly focuses on Paris. I think you should rephrase the question either way.
    – Szabolcs
    Commented Jun 3, 2016 at 13:51
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    "Thing like power outages, worker manifestations, blocked roads," <- These are all related to the strikes, so what dotxx said does apply. I have not experienced any trouble personally in Lyon. Newspapers typically write about the worst things, which creates an impression that things are much worse than they really are. If you see a protest, just don't go there. About transport strikes, you can't predict it. Today I went down to the metro, and there was an announcement that it won't be working during rush hour due to "mouvement social". Yesterday there was no sign of it.
    – Szabolcs
    Commented Jun 3, 2016 at 14:32
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    @Szabolcs not necessarily. Power outages and blocked roads can also be caused by floods.
    – Nzall
    Commented Jun 3, 2016 at 14:35

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There is always a difference between what you see in the media and the reality.

I live in Paris. The current flood is not common but more because it is happening in June than for its intensity. There are floods in Paris almost every 2-3 years. Usually the avenue along the Seine river gets closed for few days. This is happening usually during winter. Never seen that in June. But flood in Paris is common.

Same for the protest. There is a law currently being debated. Some people are trying to take advantage of the situation with the upcoming Euro to obtain new advantages. Those are usually not impacted by this new law but it doesn't matter for them, they just try obtain again something more...

Will this impact the Euro? Certainly not... You might see some people trying to make their voice heard but this won't go far. They talk a lot but that's all they can do. Same for the flood. It is under control in Paris and will be cleaned out when the Euro starts.

I am more concerned for people outside of Paris that have been heavily impacted by this flood event. Those are the current victims...

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    (-1) I find the second paragraph unnecessarily political, it could be rephrased.
    – Relaxed
    Commented Jun 6, 2016 at 9:07

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