notamermaid

Lower Austria is officially in a state of emergency. Several roads are still blocked in the region. Passau gauge is in that little dip and forecast to rise again later today. The Regen is draining fast and therefore looking a bit better today. That water has arrived in Regensburg so gauges will rise soon downstream from there, eventually getting to Passau. The city also has to take the water from the Isar which is likely to rise a little as well during the day at its mouth. notamermaid

I remember well. 🙂 And actually thought about you and the Isla yesterday. Thank you for your kind words. Will definitely have a look. If she is still on the Main river things are looking promising for a good sailing as she is going with the flow literally. A different ship is unlucky (although criticism is uttered in this case as well) in Vienna. The passengers are stuck on the ship and supposedly not even allowed to leave, i.e. no one is coming to pick them up by boat. Report from Switzerland on the Thurgau Prestige in Vienna, with video, German language: https://www.srf.ch/news/international/unwetter-in-wien-schweizer-flussreisende-in-wien-gestrandet Do watch the video if you are interested, folks, as the footage is from the Nussdorf landing stages, which I have mentioned in a bit more detail lately. Edit: news articles in English language are easy to find when searching for Vienna stranded Swiss ship. notamermaid

It is normally quiet as regards news from the Oder river basin and still very few river cruise ships sail on the river. Now the river and its people are very much in the news. It is really bad. The Neiße river which is part of the border of Germany to its Eastern neighbour Poland is flooding heavily. So is the Oder itself. The gauges map shows the levels of flooding (the map only shows gauges that are relevant for the German rivers' basins): The Neiße flows through Liberec and then becomes the border river later. The Oder comes from the Southeast through Wroclaw. At the top of the screenshot the Neiße and the Oder meet. The unusual weather pattern shows in the fact that the Northeast of Germany and Northern Poland are little to not affected while the Czech Republic and Southern Poland are in a dramatic situation. Here is a report from a Polish news outlet: https://notesfrompoland.com/2024/09/15/floods-claim-first-life-in-poland-as-pm-warns-residents-to-obey-evacuation-orders/ More rain is sweeping in from the Northeast. I can see two river cruise ships currently on the Oder, they are the Mona Lisa and the Sans Souci, both docked in Szczecin (Stettin). notamermaid

Yes, people have lost their lives. The floods are dramatic and will continue to cause danger to life especially in the Czech Republic and Poland. More rain is forecast there. I have just watched some German coverage of the situation along the Neisse River, in Silesia and the Giant Mountains range. notamermaid

Korneuburg gauge is now showing more stable figures, the fast rise is over. Forecast suggests minimally lower figures during the night with a real improvement in 12 to 18 hours. But the level will stay far above the line permitted for river traffic. As I have mentioned before, the Austrian authorities do not stick to that as much as the German authorities do. notamermaid

The situation tonight for the Elbe and Oder. This map only shows the gauges in the Czech Republic of the rivers with their tributaries that are flowing into Germany. To the right of the screenshot is the Oder river which later becomes the border river between Germany and Poland so this is shown: notamermaid

It does. I guess the Florentina will not be sailing at all. Not sure that she was supposed to be doing an itinerary this week, I have little info on her. She is in Melnik in the harbour off the Elbe. notamermaid

Ah, as I thought, no access to the river banks. River level at Passau stable, but with the Regen still draining a higher than normal volume of water and the Isar supplying much water as well, a further rise (after this little dip during today) is expected for tomorrow afternoon. Flood warning level 3 looks likely. The Isar near its mouth, flood warning level 2: notamermaid

It is certainly a bit of an isolated tradition even in the Protestant church. Not Anglican either and it appears that it has not been picked up by may churches. I attended one in Kent many years ago. Never one in Germany. The Moravians have a few unique traditions. When you are in a town with a congregation do have a look at the architecture or read the notice boards at their churches. I am not sure how many congregations have the original architecture but some do stand out in the overall townscapes. Which is partly what has made the traditions UNESCO material, as noted above by @RDVIK2016. The one in Germany is called Herrnhut. I have never been there, but know the one in Neuwied on the Rhine (from a history project). The church interior is always white, quite different from Protestant or Catholic tradition. UNESCO: https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1468/ Herrnhut is an hour and twenty minutes by car from Dresden, from Bad Schandau it is a good hour. notamermaid

Yes it sounds good. I guess they need to be out of the city due to the flooding of the river banks? Or there are just too many ships in the centre. Hope you have a good day tomorrow under the circumstances and the hotels will be comfortable. notamermaid

Sorry to read that. I hope it will be the only day of rain next week. We are sending drier weather from here. It was milder and sunny here during the day. The map, unfortunately also more water in the hills and mountains: notamermaid

Good to read that it has helped some people. I admit that the rain was not unwelcome here. A bit too cold so some plant species have suffered but the rain has not caused any real concern. Just some harvests will not be as good as they could be. Commercially speaking for the Rhine river the water has been good as Kaub gauge returned over 150cm. It makes the logistics industry happy. We still have frustratingly enough room in the river to take some away from the Elbe and the Danube. If anyone has got a crackpot idea that actually works to get some water into the Rhine basin or at least to the Upper Upper Danube at Beuron I would be happy to hear it. My idea of forcing travellers heading West to take a litre of water in a bottle out of the Danube and pour it out beyond the water shed is not an option... Schwabelweiß (Regensburg) gauge is lower than its forecast suggested this morning so that is good. 380cm is well below official flooding, highest level permitted for river traffic is 520cm, so doing comparatively well. Korneuburg near Vienna is above its forecast issued at lunchtime, so not doing well.758cm. Looks like we will see the river closed for longer. The next forecast will be issued soon. News says that much of Hungary did not see heavy rain, but the Danube and the tributaries further West, that is Austria and Slovakia as we know, will bring flooding to Budapest. The authorities have issued the highest warning level. The streets along the river bank will be closed. Margaret Island may be closed for cars and pedestrians. My info is from a different article in German. You can read some English news here: https://www.budapesttimes.hu/hungary/third-degree-flood-alert-issued-for-budapest/ The border section up to Linz and the Traun river in Austria are open again. All other sections (not all copied here) are closed still: But perhaps your captain will have some good news for you later depending on where you are docked now. notamermaid

The forecast for Budapest: notamermaid

I see that it is still raining over Passau and the border regions in Austria (radar image cuts off there with the DWD website). Still a lot of rain also over the Vltava and Elbe, going up and East towards the Oder and Poland. Passau gauge is now on 750cm, flood warning level 2. Rise is now slow and the 780cm which ends river traffic may just be avoided today. Not clear yet. Pfelling is at 494cm and rising further. But that section of river should stay manageable. Problem is the railway bridge at Bogen near Schwabelweis (Regensburg area). The rise at Pfelling will show at Passau naturally, but we cannot say yet how much. River traffic is now suspended in Austria completely (apart from a short section at Engelhartszell and the border Danube with Germany). The authorities give no indication yet when any river traffic can resume. notamermaid

That is cold. Yes, a weather divide with a line that runs somewhere from the Alps, just missing Augsburg and Regensburg and then crossing into the Czech Republic. We have had rain and cold wind, but the real Arctic effect runs Southeast of the line I have just described, brutally running East and Northeast to the North. And I think it reflects well in the map that @RDVIK2016 posted. I cooked a chicken pie in the oven. The next day a cake, then another long oven dish. While I got the kitchen warm, the rest of the flat got uncomfortably cool, so I gave up and put the heating on on Friday evening. Not much, but I felt better for it. It is brightening up here, I can feel the change and that change in weather will come to you Tuesday I think. Not long to go for your area till it can recover. But, of course, draining the tributaries of the Danube will take time. Especially in the harder hit Slovakia. I also read of inundations in Romania. @Izengolf, things okay with you? notamermaid

For the Rhine there are interesting maps that show you the course of the river, which is especially helpful for castle viewing. The same publisher actually has one for the Moselle, too. You can look it up here: https://www.rahmel-verlag.de/en/products/produkte_details.php?prod_id=41 notamermaid

Such a pity. It does not look like you will be sailing upstream any time soon. I am sure the Tauck team will come up with a great plan but there is certainly not much they can do at this stage. I doubt that sailing downstream is a viable option... Thank you for saying hello and do post us what Tauck is planning for you. We do not hear much about the company here how they react to unusual situations. notamermaid

Demolition work on the Carola Bridge has stopped. The Elbe's level has risen over one metre during the day. The parts of the bridge that are still standing are being closely monitored. Dresden expects the Elbe to peak there on Thursday. The gauge now reads 382cm. Flood warning level three of 600cm is expected Monday lunchtime. notamermaid

Vienna city council weather warning, advice: https://www.wien.gv.at/english/living-working/severe-weather-warning.html River level peak at Vienna looks to be forecast for Sunday into Monday (that is between 11pm and 3am about). notamermaid

It is not just raining but also still too cold for September, even here in my mild valley. Night temperature went down to single digits. While there is as fa as I know no snow in the Danube valley, high hills are close to that or have seen snow. Currently I can only see it close to the Alps and in the mountains of Austria, potentially also Salzburg. A few roads for excursions could be tricky. There have been warnings. The wave of water is now fully in Vienna. Korneuburg gauge is well over the marker for permitted river traffic (and as we have read the section of Danube is closed). As all levels including Pfelling are still rising, it will take some time for the water to clear Austria. This is not "we have had some rain, will be over in 48 hours" situation. I am sorry this is happening, kind of feels like "here we go again". It was only just over three months ago that the river was partially closed in Austria. And we had all that flooding at the end of December. notamermaid

Riviera has just announced another ship! The Riviera Resplendence will come in 2026. And they have released info on 2026 river cruises early: https://travelweekly.co.uk/news/tourism/riviera-reveals-new-ship-alongside-early-release-of-2026-sailings notamermaid

To illustrate the unusual weather situation, here is the complete map of the German information service. No problems where it is green: notamermaid

@moonriver54 Good, easy graph. Which website is that? From the Austrian information service: navigation is now prohibited from Abwinden Lock to Slovakia, including the border section between the countries. notamermaid

Passau is at 708cm. The level could get close to 800cm tomorrow, which means that a river traffic ban is possible. notamermaid

Please note that in the information service above as of now the situation in the border section with Slovakia is described as critical. The wave will hit the Danube there hard as well of course and Budapest is expecting second level flooding on Tuesday. It is not looking good for upstream sailings from Budapest at all. notamermaid