Floods in Germany

[VF101]

At the moment there are record floods in the south and east of Germany. Because of some really heavy rainfall, several smaller rivers are flooding -- as well as some of the big ones like the Elbe or the Danube. The famous city of Passau, called "City of Three Rivers", is located where the rivers Inn and Ilz join the Danube. While the water level gauge is typically about 5 meters, today the level rose to a new record of 12.60 meters - being even higher than the previous records from the sixteenth century! The whole city is without water supply at the moment and the flood is supposed to stay for several days. Schools are closed as is the local university. My office is in the historic centre of Passau, so trying to get there today wasn't easy, but it gave me the opportunity to take some pictures.


Theresienstraße Passau von fischerlaender auf Flickr


Vorsichtsmaßnahme von fischerlaender auf Flickr


Heiliggeistgasse Passau von fischerlaender auf Flickr

 

[Muggins]

Having seen some of the flood markers in the villages along the Elbe in "Swiss Saxony"*, the thought of record floods is pretty damn scary. Stay safe!

Adrian

*I'd love to go back... but right now seems a bad time!

 

[VF101]

Visiting saxony or the other areas hit by the floods would really be a bad idea. There are already too many flood tourists hindering the rescue workers. I wouldn't have been there taking pictures if I had not to look after our office.

 

[johannielscom]

Climate in Europe is on the loose, Eastern Finland saw 29ºC and the south of France saw snow last week! 😱

Living in a country that is the ultimate downstream area of the Rhine, the rising waters in Germany are watched with great attention here.

This summer my son and I will be vacationing for a week at the banks of the Rhine (Bonn, Remagen, Koblenz) and as such am overly interested in the cause of events too. Love that region and hope that it (or any region for that matter!) will not suffer heavily from the flooding!

Passau I visited long ago, and loved it. I wish the waters to retreat quickly and those torrential rains to stop.

Good luck to all there!

 

[Jerevan]

I was in the Frankfurt (Mainviereck) area last week, and while the rains weren't as heavy as further down south in Bayern, the water levels were high enough to start to think "what if?". Stay safe out there!

 

[user237428934]

This summer my son and I will be vacationing for a week at the banks of the Rhine (Bonn, Remagen, Koblenz) and as such am overly interested in the cause of events too. Love that region and hope that it (or any region for that matter!) will not suffer heavily from the flooding!

Our sand beaches at the rhine are flooded and some of the bicylce tracks along the river too. Nothing serious yet. Weather forecast for the next days says "no rain".

If you need some information about Bonn, just PM me. I'm living in the southern part of Bonn.

 

[sevo]

I was in the Frankfurt (Mainviereck) area last week, and while the rains weren't as heavy as further down south in Bayern, the water levels were high enough to start to think "what if?". Stay safe out there!

No serious issues along the Main, alert levels are at a modest one or two of four (where disaster is past four). The water is mildly over the banks and out in the unprotected riverside meadows (so that the bicycle paths are blocked and we had to switch our plans for the weekend), but it is still below the dykes and walls even in the worse protected towns and cities around, and will not rise much any more, as most of the lower tributaries are not flooded at all. It could have been different - the deluge was originally announced to happen right here, but the rain missed us and went down to the south and east of the originally predicted area.

In any case, this is not the coast or mountains, where floods can be sudden and rush past you even if you are prepared. High waters on the middle part of a major river rise predictably, over hours or even days, and are merely a nuisance, and if any a danger to property (mostly of people who recently built too close to the water in ignorance of past wisdom). They are not a danger to life and health, unless self-inflicted - even in the most minor flood there always seems to be some idiot killed while trying to rescue his car from some inundated garage or speeding past a barrier and into the river.

 

[Peter_wrote:]

quite the same situation here in austria. because of the improved installations of flood control since the last big flood 2002, there will be less damages.

Linz by the Danube, Austria

 

[semi-ambivalent]

quite the same situation here in austria. because of the improved installations of flood control since the last big flood 2002, there will be less damages.

Linz by the Danube, Austria

Having grown up in the farmland along the Mississippi in the US, it seems that 'flood control', by keeping flood waters channeled, only pushes more water downstream to a point where there are no dikes/levees whereupon the flooding there is made worse. But good luck and stay safe; the weather is crazy everywhere.

s-a

 

[Paulbe]

Wow! Good luck to all you folks over there. Two years ago, my wife and I were on a Rhine river cruise that included Koblenz--and at that time, the river was so low the boat had to stop away from several locations and we rode buses to the destination.
Things can change rapidly! Please be safe...
Paul

 

[Peter_wrote:]

Having grown up in the farmland along the Mississippi in the US, it seems that 'flood control', by keeping flood waters channeled, only pushes more water downstream to a point where there are no dikes/levees whereupon the flooding there is made worse. But good luck and stay safe; the weather is crazy everywhere.

s-a

after the cities, there are stress-relief areas, where the river can get broader again. both artificial and natural (alluvial forest) ones.

weather extremes really increase.

 

[Jerevan]

It could have been different - the deluge was originally announced to happen right here, but the rain missed us and went down to the south and east of the originally predicted area.

I didn't know that, actually. If it had been, I guess I would have been downstairs in the cellar trying to get the water out... Instead I got my feet wet on the muddy walking paths in Spessart.

 

[back alley]

the power of mother nature!

 

[nikon_sam]

All we really get here are high winds and earthquakes (sometimes fires)
Floods, hurricanes, tornadoes or any other of Mother Nature's nasties I can do without...
Stay Safe...

 

[Ronald M]

It was on the news in Chicago, just one of the intellectual channels though. Mainstream news is garbage.

As far as the Mississippi floods, The farmers upstream have graded the farms to dump water as fast as possible making life miserable for those downstream. Everyone for himself so to speak.

Then we have had years worth of level 4& 5 tornados in two weeks down in Oklahoma.
Whole towns have been ripped up 100%.

 

[VF101]

The water level in Passau has fallen and is now more than one meter below its peak at 12.89 meters. Tap water is still unavailable though. Many villages along the Danube are evacuated right now, because the dikes may get overrun.

In Passau floods are a very normal thing. They occur nearly every year, because all the water of the greater part of southern germany comes down to Passau.
But, as the local newspaper puts it: "This is no flood. The people of Passau are accustomed to floods. This is a catastrophe."

 

[Kent]

Weather was terrible here this spring!
My thoughts are with the people living nearby rivers.

 

[semi-ambivalent]

It was on the news in Chicago, just one of the intellectual channels though. Mainstream news is garbage.

As far as the Mississippi floods, The farmers upstream have graded the farms to dump water as fast as possible making life miserable for those downstream. Everyone for himself so to speak.

Then we have had years worth of level 4& 5 tornados in two weeks down in Oklahoma.
Whole towns have been ripped up 100%.

Ronald,

The last twenty years have caused the Corps of Engineers to re-think whether or not they really could 'control' the Mississippi. They're wiser now. Less hubris too.

 

[dave lackey]

Good grief! Record tornado outbreaks here, huge flooding in Germany, snow in places that shouldn't be this time of year...

Stay safe!😱

 

[robert blu]

Good grief! Record tornado outbreaks here, huge flooding in Germany, snow in places that shouldn't be this time of year...

Stay safe!😱

...and no sun where it should be...

robert