L'Inondation

{{short description|1880 novella by Émile Zola}}

{{for|other novels|Flood (disambiguation)#Literature}}

{{Infobox book

| name = The Flood

| title_orig =L'Inondation

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| author = Émile Zola

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| country = France

| language = French

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| genre = Short story

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| release_date = 1880

| media_type = Print

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L'Inondation (The Flood) is an 1880 novella by Émile Zola. Set in the village of Saint-Jory, several miles up the Garonne from Toulouse, it is the story of a family tragedy, told by its patriarch, seventy-year-old Louis Roubieu.

Plot summary

On a beautiful May day, the Garonne floods, washing away all the bridges; ruining nearly two thousand houses; drowning hundreds; and leaving twenty thousand starving to death. The novella describes the immediate impact this flood has on one household.