A statement from the Louvre said that museum bosses had chose to put in place their emergency action plan after flood levels hit 5.08 metres (above the normal level of the Seine).
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Among the dead are an 86-year-old woman in central France and three people in Bavaria who had become trapped inside a home.
Rail operator SNCF was forced to close an underground commuter line running along the Seine in Paris that is frequently used by tourists traveling to the Eiffel Tower and Notre Dame Cathedral.
France and other European countries have been pummelled for days by an exceptional deluge, and there is little respite in sight with more heavy rain forecast for the coming days.
In Evry-Gregy-sur-Yerre, south of Paris, a man on horseback drowned on Thursday, the prefecture said in a statement.
At least five persons were killed in the flooding that has been described as the worst some areas have seen in a century.
About 200 people had to spend the night in a gymnasium in Nemours and Prime Minister Manuel Valls, visiting the flooded town’s a crisis control centre, said at least 2,000 more people needed to be evacuated.
In Paris, the swollen Seine River and its tributaries flooded roadways, effectively isolating neighborhoods and towns. (A. LEBOUTEY/AFP/Getty Images) The Seine is expected to crest Friday after reaching 18 feet above normal.
Later, Eleanor said on Cereal, our daily midday news update on Facebook, that boat traffic had stopped along the Seine, which runs through Paris.
In the Paris region’s hardest-hit area of Seine-et-Marne, 3,000 people were transferred to emergency housing and 300 more in the Yvelines district, the Interior Ministry said.
The Seine River in Paris may rise to 5.6 meters above zero level on Thursday and should peak below 6 meters on Friday, the Paris City said on website.
The Louvre Museum, which houses paintings including the Mona Lisa, said that it will be closed Friday so workers can move valuable art away from danger.
In the Loire Valley, Chambord castle, a UNESCO world heritage site, found itself surrounded by water.
That brings the total of people killed in flooding in Germany over the last week to 10 – including four in Baden-Wuerttemberg, to Bavaria’s west, in flooding on Sunday and Monday.
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President Francois Hollande is set to declare a state of natural disaster in the worst-hit areas.
