News Severe flooding in Central Europe

[Urwumpe]

Because of the massive rainfall, we have a really dangerous situation here now, many rivers have already exceeded their historic record marks by more than one meter and climbing.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-22746889

As usual in such weather situations, Passau (at the Danube, three big rivers join right upstream of it) is one of the hot spots (a level of 12 meters, normal is 6.80 meters), but also the Elbe is raising quickly, they expect a record peak level in Magdeburg for the afternoon. They announced already yesterday, that they will breach one levee upstream for lowering the peak of the flood wave before it reaches Magdeburg.

In Leipzig, there is a call for citizens to register and assist as levee guard (Tasks are described in German standard DIN 19712 "River levees") , patrolling the levees for any leaks.

Explanation of the DIN 19712 on a sign at the improved levees after the 2002 flooding

And in Zwickau, Volkswagen has cancelled the daytime shift, because many roads around the plant had been closed and employees and suppliers can't reach the factory.

In Bavaria, they already declared the "catastrophe case", resulting in more rights for the fire departments, police and technical relief units, additionally, this permits the deployment of the German army in the endangered regions, 1760 soldiers are already helping there.

In 2002, 45,000 soldiers had been deployed to help during the previously worst flooding in Germany at the Elbe.

Since the rain is now mostly at the south, the levels here in my region are already dropping, we had some bigger trouble last week, but nothing as extreme as at the Danube or Elbe.

The peak rainfall in the past 90 hours had been in Aschau-Stein in Bavaria: 405.1 liters per square meter. The waters from this region went into the Inn river, which already during normal years transports more water than the Danube in spring (but the Danube has more water over the whole year) before both rivers join in Passau.

---------- Post added at 02:16 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:13 PM ----------

Now they announced that the drinking water supply of Passau has to be shutdown because of the flooding, only the hospitals will be supplied.

---------- Post added at 02:57 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:16 PM ----------

Passau, yesterday and today for comparison: http://twitpic.com/cv1hv8

 

[statickid]

wow that is deep flooding!!

 

[jedidia]

oh crap! Goodbye Restaurant Rhodos...

 

[Urwumpe]

The A8 between Munich and Salzburg is completely blocked because of the flooding until thursday.

This section is completely under water now:

[ame="http://maps.google.com/?ll=47.832374,12.504587&spn=0.024805,0.066047&t=h&z=15"]Google Maps[/ame]

 

[Pioneer]

Is there any flooding in the surrounding countries?

 

[Alfastar]

Is there any flooding in the surrounding countries?

Yes, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Czech Republic. Even some parts in the Netherlands got a (small) chance that some parts of the river become a bit going off the river, but nothing serious dramatically bad going happens here.

So sadly to see how some people not survived this disaster, and a lot of people lost some of there stuff or even more

 

[Loru]

Some local flooding in south-west part of Poland however situation even if serious, is more or less under control (suprisingly this year). Retention reservoirs (both wet and dry) are prepared.

Maybe this money from EU wasn't all wasted.

 

[Urwumpe]

Currently it looks like Germany will request money from the EU catastrophy relief fund, the estimated damages are far beyond the 3 billion Euro limit for that fund.

---------- Post added 06-04-13 at 02:10 PM ---------- Previous post was 06-03-13 at 11:41 PM ----------

The current state:

A dam in thurengia has been opened to start a controlled overflow to reduce the pressure, resulting in a flow of 146 cubic meters per second though a small town, which is only safe for 120 cubic meters per second.

A small town near Passau is about to submerge, because the levee is failing (after being blessed by local priests, the catholic church is no longer what it used to be)

Chancellor Merkel is flying around the places, but not really taking time for the situation. Schröder had shown more presence in 2002, but then, he got reelected because of the flooding and his staunch performance in the flooded regions... while Merkel has little to fear currently. The news agency AFP was really acerbic about her visit in Passau: "Who ever ordered the images, he got them... who ever scripted these scenes, which are completely futile for fighting an acute flooding - they appeared a bit too much over the top."

The flood wave is now reaching Saxony-Anhalt, they are currently working hard to rescue 6000 meters of files of the local estate office, 50 prisoners of an open prison are helping there. A peak level of 6,90 meters is predicted for Madgeburg, normal is 2 meters.

UPDATE: A broken levee near Bitterfeld forced the evacuation of 10,000 citizens. The levee had prevented water from entering one of the lakes near bitterfeld.

---------- Post added at 02:56 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:10 PM ----------

What happens with kitten pictures, when the internet gets wet?

Swan pictures: http://t.co/5IzJT43Xe5

This is how it looks like, when the forth biggest water reservoir in Germany is overflowing:

http://t.co/oIuuxB6MCV

---------- Post added at 05:22 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:56 PM ----------

UPDATE: The autobahn A3 between Regensburg and Passau will be blocked completely at Deggendorf crossing, because flooding is imminent. The village of Fischerdorf near Deggendorf is completely flooded and can't be saved.

[ame="http://maps.google.com/?ll=48.817037,12.935801&spn=0.043518,0.066605&t=h&z=14"]Google Maps[/ame]

While the water is now slowly retreating, many levees are now wet and can fail.

In Passau, water supply will be restored not sooner than to the next weekend.

 

[jedidia]

Swan pictures:

That window is holding up unexpectedly well...

Whole villages under water. This is quite disturbing. Hell, it's almost unthinkable.

 

[Urwumpe]

The university of Magdeburg has closed, just like the local applied sciences university (My brother studies there currently) is closing tomorrow afternoon, the university of Magdeburg is also calling for students to assist in the flooding relief and help filling sandbags in the state of Saxony-Anhalt.

 

[Urwumpe]

Today, the situation relaxed a bit in Germany, at the Danube, the water is slowly retreating, while it only slowly raises at the Elbe.

The peak of the flood wave from the Czech republic reached Dresden right now. Level is 8.75 meters, that is less than in 2002, where it reached 9.4 meters. Flow rate is 4370 cubic meters per second. 8500 homes are without electricity in Dresden.

A levee at Deggendorf has a fracture, but has not yet broken, they are trying hard to fix it.

In Schöna on the Elbe, the water level is over 10 meters, 8 meters more than normal.

In Calbe the Saale, one tributary of the Elbe has 9.5 meters level and raising.

Magdeburg had been at 5.80 meters water level yesterday afternoon, was 6.07 meters this morning, predicted for today are 6.60 meters. For June 10, the water level is predicted to be 7.80 meters. 1 million sand bags have been send from NRW to Magdeburg and Schönebeck.

The levees will be extended to 8.15 meters around the Elbe, but the political decision how high the levees should be was delayed badly until this january, which means that most levees are still not improved compared to 2002. Most should be high enough, but could fail when the flooding takes too long.

The big danger of the Elbe is, that this year also a floodwave is rolling down the Saale and will possibly unite with the Elbe floodwave.

---------- Post added at 06:32 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:39 AM ----------

Some meteological facts: 23 trillion liters (or 23 billion cubic meters) of water has rained on Germany since last week. It is again a Vb-type weather pattern over Europe, what happens only about 3-5 times in a year, this time combined with extremely moist mediterreanean air.

And the water of the Elbe needs usually 7 days for getting from Dresden to Geesthacht.

---------- Post added at 08:01 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:32 PM ----------

My brother now returned from his university in Magdeburg, he had been filling sandbags and building walls the past two days, now his sand bag wall is wet already.

Latest measurement: 6.55 meters, rapidly raising level since Tuesday noon, more than 6.9 meters did never happen in known history. The prediction for sunday is already 8 meters.

http://www.hochwasservorhersage.sachsen-anhalt.de/

At Barnby, where the Saale goes into the Elbe, the Elbe level is 7.18 meters. At Calbe, the Saale measures currently 9.62 meters.

The worst case scenario of Saale floodwave and Elbe floodwave arriving at the same time becomes currently less likely (Saale Floodwave is at Bernburg, 36 km away from the Elbe, Elbe floodwave is just past Dresden now), but more rain is predicted for the weekend.

 

[80mileshigh]

Back in 2009 my girlfriend and I camped on the banks of the Elbe in Sächsische Schweiz, just outside Dresden. The site was run by these guys:

http://www.ferdinandshomestay.de/english/staff/index.html

They were awfully nice and I sure hope they are OK.

Our thoughts go out to everyone who is struggling with this.

 

[Eccentrus]

whole villages being submerged? sounds awfully like the monsoons here, it is peculiar because I've never seen anything as powerful as the monsoon up north in Germany. I hope all those involved are safe physically, although economical damages would be massive in this stage.

 

[Urwumpe]

I hope all those involved are safe physically, although economical damages would be massive in this stage.

Currently we have only two deaths:

One woman fell from her bike while trying to cross a submerged and thus forbidden bike road at the Innerste near Hildesheim and was dragged into the river, she died in hospital after the fire department managed to rescue he.

Yesterday, a 74 year old man at Wittenberg was deadly hit by a construction vehicle while urgently reinforcing the levees.

Magdeburg is at 7.02 meters now, a hands length more than in 2002 (6.72), but the peak is not yet reached. The first peak is now at Barby, 60 km upstream of Magdeburg, the second is just approaching Torgau. Downstream of Magdeburg, they already lowered the predictions.


Critical is the situation currently in Mühlberg near Torgau: While the levees are designed for 10 m level, the level was already 9.98 meters in 2002 and is quickly raising currently at 1 cm per hour. Also it is expected, that the levees will be under high stress for about a week, so even when the levels are slowly falling, it is still possible that levees can fail and villages can get flooded.

Here is an English article about the situation:

http://www.spiegel.de/international...cted-to-peak-in-eastern-germany-a-904116.html

And here is a webcam of one side of the Elbe in Magdeburg, still looks pretty peaceful.

http://www.mdr.de/sachsen-anhalt/cams/index.html

The webcam is located on an island in the river Elbe, with the city park, a popular location usually.

This side of the river usually looks like that:

As you can see, the first step to the river is completely submerged already.

And this here is how the region around the university of my brother looks like, with the popular "Elbauenpark" south of it.

http://www.openstreetmap.org/?lat=52.1386&lon=11.67357&zoom=15&layers=M

 

[Urwumpe]

The situation in Magdeburg is now extremely dangerous, the water level is 7.32 m and the important August-Bebel-Dam in the north is about to fail, they are moving all helpers there that they can get. The dam protects an important industry zone, on top runs a very important road, that is already blocked by the police, very important currently is the pebble plant north of the Autobahn A2 (since many sand bags are filled there). The August-Bebel-Dam connects northern Magdeburg and the industrial port with the Autobahn A2 at the junction "Rothensee". Should it fail, the whole north of Magdeburg until the Autobahn will get flooded, including the railroad tracks. The industrial buildings at the Elbe facing side of the dam are already flooded. And many parts north of the Autobahn as well, the town Wolmirstedt is already preparing for the worst.

Another hotspot is the island called Werder, especially around the road Zollstraße. The water is already pushing up from below there, the walls at the Elbe waterfront are already under high pressure.

The current inofficial situation map, many people organize help over Facebook currently. You can even find Kindergarten offering their playground sand for filling sandbags. The two biggest housing associations in Magdeburg are offering their unrented apartments as temporary solution for those who have to leave their homes.

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msid...&ll=52.039082,11.890297&spn=0.094506,0.264187

The water has also now reached the campus of the university of my brother, it is another smaller hotspot now.

What currently is most badly needed are sand bags and wheelbarrows. Food and drinks for the helpers are also a bit low now, but it seems like help already gets underway.

Currently the situation and often cited feelings can be summarized as "Madgeburg is drowning", especially since it is expected that the levees will have to hold against this water level for a whole week. Lets hope it does not get that bad. In many places, ground water is already rising overground as well.

Good news so far: In Pechau south east of Magdeburg, the helpers managed to fix a failing levee by air support. The situation is now relaxing there a bit. To understand what happened there: At 2 AM in the night, thousands of helpers and locals gathered to protect this important levee and helicopters dropped big packs of sand bags on the levee. Would the levee have failed, the east of Madgeburg would have been instantly flooded.

Currently fighting the floods in Germany: 50000 firefighters and 11500 soldiers.

Seven people have died in Germany, many are still missing.

---------- Post added at 12:15 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:40 AM ----------

Too early...far too early: In Pechau, they are urgently seeking volunteers with proper equipment: Gloves, headwear, shovel and sun blocker.

Without the proper tools, you will not be a big help, according to the local fire fighters. (probably because they are already low on tools themselves now, and likely because it makes no sense to go there and be not prepared for working in the midday sun during the German summer)

 

[Cizurator]

From the Czech Republic: Total results are 10 dead and property damage for billions of Czech crowns (1EUR = 25,50 CZK). Villages damaged by water, roads undermined, electricity supply now slowly returning to the struck regions. And we expect more raining in following days...

 

[Urwumpe]

Satellite images of the situation on Thursday, with comparison with the state before the flooding, provided by NASA and the Terra satellite:

http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/view.php?id=81287&src=nha

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The important quarter of Magdeburg-Rothensee will be evacuated now. Sounds like they are now losing the battle on the western waterfront of the Elbe.

---------- Post added at 07:37 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:44 PM ----------

Another failing levee in Aken, south east of Magdeburg. The levee there has a dangerous leak and is according to the local fire fighters so wet that it is "only made of mud". The helpers are removed from the levee, it is too dangerous, all boats in the region should be in readiness for evacuations.

 

[Urwumpe]

Now, my town is also affected by the flood, despite being 90 km away from the Elbe. Because a levee broke in Fischbeck near Stendal, the railway line between Berlin and Hannover has been completely shutdown, Stendal is getting no ICEs anymore, Wolfsburg as well, but we are already used to ICEs missing us. Göttingen is also skipped. Jerichow also seems to be in the flooded zone, had a class mate during gymnasium time from there. The fire departments and soldiers are currently quickly building a temporary levee to prevent water from the Elbe to flow into the Havel - where it could cause flooding even near Berlin, since the Havel has only a very low grade and is flowing through low swampy terrain before flowing into the Elbe.*

The flooding is currently way beyond the worst case scenario, the floodwave is 40 km long. In Magdeburg, the water level reached 7,48 meters (normal is 2), the worst case scenario for the flood protection had been 7.20 meters, which was already much better than the 6.90 meters that the people at least had seen once.

Currently no failing levees in Magdeburg, only groundwater is raising up and pushing into the basements. Still, 23,000 people had been subject to voluntary evacuation, cars had to be removed from the endangered quarters.

The lower saxon cities on the Elbe prepare for a record level, 25 cm higher than ever in history. Especially Hitzacker is endangered, it is on a island in the Elbe.

* The Havel is one of the curiosities in nature. It is 334 km long, but only drops by 40 meters in altitude. And its source and its mouth are only 69 km apart, while it does a long curve past Berlin.

 

[sitha241]

Here papers say that water levels will be second highest ever over weekend..
I don't live in panonian area but it will be tough for them up there..

 

[Urwumpe]

While the levels are slowly decreasing, we are still fighting some massive flooding here. Magdeburg is safe now, but a bit further North, in Stendal, a broken levee near Tangermünde resulted in 200 square kilometers being flooded and 6000 people in the rural region evacuated.