The Lumieres had their cameras ready when the Saone flooded -- they were headquartered in Lyon, after all. Although these pictures of floods are not particularly interesting to the modern eye, because they are mostly pictures of horses drawing drays through the water, there are some interesting aspects to the composition.
Paramount is the use of contrasting lines of movement. The Lumieres came into motion pictures through still photography and understood how to compose for the movie frame better than any of their contemporaries. What they also came to understand early was the attraction of contrasting lines of movement to draw the viewer's eye to every part of the picture. Here, the low ripples of the water and the horse-carts provide that contrast.
The Lumieres would elaborate on this in "Laveuses sur la rivière" and "New York, Pont de Brooklyn". Today it is a standard technique in film making. Here it is in its basic form