Floods in Czech Republic, Austria and Germany

[Deleted]

Seriously, is it that bad as news agencies make it to be, water entering Prague's historic center and even metro tunnels and all the evacuations everywhere in that area of Europe?

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/...95109020130603

"(Reuters) - The worst floods to hit the Czech Republic in a decade forced the evacuation of almost 2,700 people from low-lying areas while the rising water threatened Prague's historic center, forced school closures and disrupted public transport.

Czech police said at least five people had died in the flooding. Firefighters evacuated homes in western regions and in villages outside the capital on Sunday and Monday, rescuing 200 people.

Flooding was also reported in Austria and water levels rose in Germany and Poland after heavy rain in central Europe over the past week swelled rivers. At least one person died and two were missing in Austria near Salzburg.

The subway network in central Prague was halted on Monday due to the weather, for the first time since massive floods submerged the city in 2002 and caused billions of dollars of damage in the Czech Republic.

Czech Prime Minister Petr Necas declared a state of emergency for most of the nation on Sunday and pledged 300 million crowns ($15.11 million) for relief efforts.

Troops started putting anti-flood barriers in place in Prague and volunteers helped pile up sandbags in areas popular with tourists in the ancient center. The landmark Charles Bridge was closed and workers evacuated parts of Prague zoo.

Levels on the Vltava river that cuts through Prague's center continued to rise on Monday. A spokeswoman for the state river management company said the levels could peak in the afternoon likely at half the level recorded in 2002.

Meteorologists said the steady rains that have hit the country in the past week could ease in coming days, according to CTK news agency."

[Dead_MAX]

Not so far. I live in Prague and it's mostly just annoying. It doesn't make any serious problems right now, but there preparations are being made for the situacion similar to 2002. (In that year our cellars were flooded)

---------- Post added 2013-06-03 at 10:51 AM ----------

Not so far. I live in Prague and it's mostly just annoying. It doesn't make any serious problems right now, but there preparations are being made for the situacion similar to 2002. (In that year our cellars were flooded)

Edit: Just saw the news and some pictures...Prague might ok, but the rest is fucked up. Vltava is one of the longest rivers in Czech republic, from south to north and it seems she already done quite a damage.
Funny...i live 20 meters from her and if i didnt look out of the window a wouldnt notice anything.

[Mayhem]

salzburg allready suffers, the tyrolean area too, there are a few videos on youtube, just search for "hochwasser 2013", alongside the danube in lower austria state of emergency was declared today with an expected 11m water level, that would be about and even more than what we had at the flooding in 2002, while vienna is pretty much prepared for this, could whidstand a water level of 14m, the smaller towns alongside are expected to not be so lucky

to tell how bad it is, today on radio was mentioned that the inn river which normaly has a water level of about 3m had a water level of allmost 12m

[Ravenblade]

In my state, Thuringia, we've had some towns pretty much flooded for a couple of days especially towns near the Saale, Ilm, Gera and Elster rivers had to partially evacuate. Once water levels are dropping again people will have a reason to clean their houses and streets now or let it wash away by next flood.

[ChrisKoe]

It's pretty bad in parts of southern Germany.
This for instance is the Autobahn 8 south of Munich, a major traffic route between Germany and Austria.
The city centre of Passau, a Bavarian town near the Chech border, is completely cut off. The rivers Inn and Ilz flow into the Donau here wich currently marks the highest water level in 500 years.

And it just keeps on raining...


Passau how it usually looks like
Passau yesterday...

[Deffry]

I live in Prague. And it is ok here, it is more annoying than dangerous (our subway system is paralised (and it is subway with the biggest usage per capita in the world). Prague is ok, because it is the richest aglomeration in our country, so anti-flood tools are on the highest level and the city is quite well guarded against almost double flood than it is happening now. But, the rest of the Bohemian part of our country is quite fucked up.

[Tokru]

Haven't really been affected yet (and won't be), but people say it's getting quickly to 2002-levels at the Mulde in Grimma not far from here. There are already Facebook groups for gathering supplies and helping fill sandbags.
A coworker nearly arrived too late today because her train had to be rerouted.


Grimma today:

[Reeve]

Aw, that sucks. Hope it subsides soon and people don't get hurt.

[Bakis]

Sucks, wish you had out heat up here in the north, spend 4h asleep or reading a book out in the sun, in for some food and soon out for a run.

[Mayhem]

highest marks expected tomorrow and wednesday in the viennese area, going to take some pictures, i hope for everyone to get through this save!

[Bakis]

These are the kinda of natural disasters that are less localized to lets say a tornado. Upside is there are generally no or very very few loss of lives, downside is that they cover vast areas and the costs are immense.
Pretty much suck, hope the people at least get to enjoy a nice summer after all the mud is pumped out of thousands of basements and ground floors.

[Gamdwelf]

Why even build houses in this area, or houses that are completely flood proof where no water can get in?

[Bakis]

Why even build houses in this area, or houses that are completely flood proof where no water can get in?

Probably cos cities in Europe along rivers are 300-1300 years old. They always been suspect to flooding. Dont know what impact global warming might have or not have but the cities been at those places for a looong time.
Then there is the question of cost, it is not that common that town X gets hit every 5th, 10th year or so. In the long run it is probably cheaper to just suck up an increased insurance premium after a flood year than spending much more on foundation and ground floor flood proof if it is even feasible.

[Tokru]

Why even build houses in this area, or houses that are completely flood proof where no water can get in?

It's not that those houses have a real danger of beeing destroyed like the houses in the US which face a slight wind ;-P

Just kidding.

They get water in the basement. When the water is gone they have to clean the basement and maybe put some new plaster on the wall on ground level.

[Mayhem]

Why even build houses in this area, or houses that are completely flood proof where no water can get in?

yeah pretty much what bakis said, the cities in this area are at least 1000 years old or even older and the people are preparing, but the last flood was said to be one in 100 years ... 11 years later it´s again and even bigger in some areas, that´s nothing you´d expect around here

prior to the 2002 flood the last huge one was in 1954 and that one wasn´t even remotely as big as 2002, the last one like 2002 was in 1899 ...

plus thanks to the urbanisation and the regulation of rivers theres no floodarea anymore like it was 200 years ago

i guess the people have to adapt fast, if the weather keeps going like this we´ll have the next flood sooner than later

[Jackmoves]

Why even build houses in this area, or houses that are completely flood proof where no water can get in?

Prague for example has been where it is for around 1000 years.

[Deleted]

Why even build houses in this area, or houses that are completely flood proof where no water can get in?

Because when they were built people didn't expect that one day floods will come and since most of those towns were build hundreads of years ago, they were built near waterways for easier transport and defense.

[Gamdwelf]

Why don't they just build houses made out of wood, chained to the bottom that will float if a flood comes by?

[TheFNK]

Why don't they just build houses made out of wood, chained to the bottom that will float if a flood comes by?

Well played but I'm not sure anyone will realize you are just being cute about the obnoxiousness of people in the Tornado threads.

[Ravenblade]

Why don't they just build houses made out of wood, chained to the bottom that will float if a flood comes by?

It's a viable alternative if only the govt. would be willing to subsidize chromed stainless steel chains which are fairly efficient to manufacture especially the 100mm twist link version ones. In fact this has been suggested a couple of times already but the govt. prefers to spend to it on military hardware instead.