Rare pictures of the great Danube flood in year 2002

MAGYARUL  

In connection with the recent Danubian flood articles often mention the record-breaking 2002. August flood. Indeed that was also a great flood, but later, in 2006 it was followed by an even greater flood in the Danube-bend, Hungary. But how high was the water in 2002? Standing on the riverside it is hard to imagine the size of the flooded area. When the Danube fills its riverbed, a human eye can tell which is the bank and which is the river. When flooding – except for towns and cities – riverside lost its meaning, the sharp boundaries between water and solid ground fades away on meadows and riverine forests. In these cases flying over the river makes easier to understand the extent of the flooded area.

Lines of trees outline the old island cores on The Szentendrei Island

430 meters

MAGYARUL

430 meters. An adult walks this distance in about 3-4 minutes. The world record for 400 meters flat race is 43 seconds. Such wide is the Danube at Budapest, between Kossuth tér and Batthyány tér. Actually, this is not a great distance. Such long Danube bank was given to the Republic of Moldova, out of the rivers total 2840 kilometers. 0,015 %. What can they do with such short riverbank? 
 

 

Pamätné tabule ľadovej povodne z roku 1838 v meste Ostrihom

MAGYARUL 

Históriu spúšte ľadovej povodne poznáme najmä z udalostí v Budapešti. Barón Miklóš Wesselényi a gróf Széchenyi István v svojich pamätiach opísali udalosti takmer z minúty na minútu. Ako nastalo nakopenie ľadu, ako sa pretrhli hrádze, ako zaliala voda ulice. Preto sa často stáva, že túto povodeň nazývame Budapeštianska. Táto povodeň ale narobila škody po celej dĺžke Dunaja, od Nyergesújfalu až po Moháč. Medzi prvými zatopenými mestami bolo aj mesto Ostrihom. Ako pamätné memento ostali po celom meste v kameni zamrznuté ruky na mramorových tabuliach, ktoré ukazujú dátum a hladinu vody pri tejto udalosti. Vydajme sa spolu vypátrať, aký bol v tom čase skutočný stav Dunaja v tomto kráľovskom meste.

  

Largest flood on the Danube?

MAGYARUL

Today, Sunday, 2nd of June 2013. the gauging station at Passau showed 1085 cm, a higher value than the 2002 flood, but still lower than the 1954 flood (1220 cm). According to the rising trend of the Passau gauging station we are sure that there will be a new record soon. The German Bundeswehr took control of the flood defence in the city, the major declared a state of emergency. In May, the precipitation was 178% of the long-term average rainfall, and the flood alert service forecasts heavy rains for the next days. Preparation is advised for countries along the lower section of the Danube.

 

Passau, Schaubling tower at flood and average water (source: commons.wikipedia)