Rhine water levels 2023 and similar topics

[moonriver54]

On 11/22/2023 at 12:50 PM, notamermaid said:

It is big and really away from the river flow, an industrial harbour, but also has been the place for the KD company (Köln-Düsseldorfer) to put their river cruise ships (when they operated them) and excursion boats for many years. I had not realized this. When I went there in a previous year - you know, when all ships were grounded - I saw the KD logos where Viking has their ships. That is because of the business connection that Viking started in Germany with KD ships.

 

Not the sort of place you want to dock in for the night and too far from the city centre. But the village of Niehl is nice, a traditional fishing village it was - till the big companies came: https://www.stadt-koeln.de/artikel/06809/index.html

 

I really like this drone photo of the harbour, do check out the photographer and the text is worth translating with an online program, it explains the significance of the date the photo was taken: https://de.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Datei:Hafen_Köln_Niehl_I_(Niehler_Hafen)_-_Panorama-07900792.jpg

 

notamermaid

 

That's a great photo.  With Viking river cruise ships packed in the moorage like sardines!  Thank you!

[notamermaid]

1 hour ago, moonriver54 said:

That's a great photo.  With Viking river cruise ships packed in the moorage like sardines!  Thank you!

My pleasure. Sardines, well, the obvious comparison , but one I had not thought of!

 

I went to Niehl in May 2021. It was - err - interesting. Next to the entrance to the Viking basin was this:

 

The entrance (I did not enter the private property of course). You can make out the wheelhouses of the ships:

 

notamermaid

 

Edited November 23, 2023 by notamermaid

[notamermaid]

Apparently there was an incident on the Rhine involving a river cruise ship and a barge yesterday. Due to a technical fault the ship lost all its steering and drifted downstream. An emergency stop with the anchors did not go well. A barge just managed to avoid a collision but doing so hit and ripped out a green buoy. The police allowed the barge to sail on and reports no damage there. The river cruise ship was able to get one machine going again and was allowed to sail to Rüdesheim. That is not far from where this all happened, it was at Trechtingshausen at km 534.3. No one was hurt. The names of the ships have not been disclosed. Police report: https://www.presseportal.de/blaulicht/pm/43615/5656674

 

The backlog at Iffezheim lock has cleared slowly. As we know, due to the accident with the gate things will continue to be slower than usual there.

 

It is a very windy day today, cold driving rain makes excursions unpleasant  I should think. But the showers are scattered around. No impact on water levels of note expected. That is good as the level at Maxau is still high. We do not need any more water right now.

 

The Netherlands expect sleet and a bit of snow even over the weekend. And with the fast winds that weather is coming to Germany. I could really feel the chill in the air this morning. So the higher hills will get some snow. Which means that you may dock on the river in rain at Breisach, go in a coach to the Black Forest and see the first snowflakes...

 

notamermaid

 

 

 

[moonriver54]

16 hours ago, notamermaid said:

My pleasure. Sardines, well, the obvious comparison , but one I had not thought of!

 

I went to Niehl in May 2021. It was - err - interesting. Next to the entrance to the Viking basin was this:

 

The entrance (I did not enter the private property of course). You can make out the wheelhouses of the ships:

 

notamermaid

 

Thanks very much for posting these photos!!  I'm really curious where some of the other river cruise ships "winter-over"...Avalon Waterways and Ama Waterways.  That's a LOT of ships and would require quite a moorage...somewhere along the Rhine and/or Danube.

[notamermaid]

3 hours ago, moonriver54 said:

That's a LOT of ships and would require quite a moorage...somewhere along the Rhine and/or Danube.

Yes, you would need a huge "car park" for all those ships together now, 100plus vessels. Will put a short post in the Danube thread.

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

Did a bit of webcam spotting and searching. I think it is the Amaserena that is having problems. I say is as she is still in the Rüdesheim area. She arrived from direction Trechtingshausen about 85 min after the incident and docked at Rüdesheim for almost 24 hours. Around lunchtime today there was a second Amawaterways ship docked alongside. That one left shortly after, then a pilot boat arrived. That escorted the Amaserena upstream in the side channel. It left shortly after the Amaserena docked at a building supplies company at Geisenheim, at a small industrial harbour area. She is still there now:

 

notamermaid

 

[moonriver54]

5 hours ago, notamermaid said:

Yes, you would need a huge "car park" for all those ships together now, 100plus vessels. Will put a short post in the Danube thread.

 

notamermaid

 

Can you please post a link to that thread?  Thanks!

[notamermaid]

1 hour ago, moonriver54 said:

Can you please post a link to that thread?  Thanks!

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2910185-danube-water-levels-2023-and-similar-topics-plus-tips-and-info/page/45/#comments

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

Hmm, I think we can say that there is definitely something wrong with the itinerary of the Amaserena and I will repeat my assumption that the ship had the unfortunate incident at Trechtingshausen. From Rüdesheim she left during the night and returned downstream. Never seen a ship do that before. She went through the Rhine Gorge and straight to Cologne where she arrived early this morning. There she is docked not at the "right" side of Cologne but has joined German ships on the Deutz side, in the harbour together with the "wasps". Those are the "Wespe(s)", the WSP boats of the Wasserschutzpolizei, the police launches:

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

The levels of the Rhine continue to be good, but high. Maxau gauge will go further down but stay above the mean, so the next rise after all this rain is anticipated for next weekend. Most likely this will be on flood mark I and could reach official flooding status again. Another river traffic ban is not indicated.

 

The bridge at Cologne Niehl harbour is in the news again. It had been severely damaged by a barge with a crane construction. Newspapers report that it may need to be demolished.

 

A quiet day by law, not much is happening and the weather is not really inviting you to venture out far.

 

We have snow in the high hills but cold, wetting rain in the valley.

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

A slight change to the forecast. The first significant rise at Maxau is forecast for Tuesday to Wednesday, with a drop and then another rise of signifance taking us into the weekend. Both times the peak will most likely be below 750cm, so no ban, but flood mark I will definitely be reached. Just to add an interesting fact for further downstream. Emmerich on the lower Rhine is the last gauge in Germany. It has followed suit of course, meaning dropping similarly to the other gauges before it, but is still high - 535cm. The lowest ever recorded level occurred in 2022: literally -1.

 

It is a cold, unpleasant day today. Icy rain in the valley necessitates driving extra carefully. Snow is getting ever closer to the warm areas of the valleys. It is snowing in Frankfurt but raining in Cologne. Above 300m rain is most likely falling as snow.

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

As predicted the level at Maxau has risen. It is now at 656cm. Looking at that on a graph this is only a small hump. After the down direction the level may still stay on flood mark I. That will be tomorrow. Then, the real rise is anticipated to happen which will take the level over 700cm. A river ban is not likely, but is at the upper end of the probability, so a tiny, tiny risk.

 

A quick update and conclusion on the "drama with soap opera" featuring the excursion boat Carmen Sylva. It was not clear why she had sunk so there was an official investigation. Conclusion: no wrong-doing, just unfortunate circumstances. The ship was attached to a pontoon. That pontoon had a leak due to corrosion, filled with water gradually and pulled the ship with it. She has been taken to a shipyard in the meantime and the new owner will turn it into his private "home on water", in addition to a house I guess. He is a local business man in the construction industry.

 

notamermaid

 

 

[moonriver54]

5 minutes ago, notamermaid said:

As predicted the level at Maxau has risen. It is now at 656cm. Looking at that on a graph this is only a small hump. After the down direction the level may still stay on flood mark I. That will be tomorrow. Then, the real rise is anticipated to happen which will take the level over 700cm. A river ban is not likely, but is at the upper end of the probability, so a tiny, tiny risk.

 

A quick update and conclusion on the "drama with soap opera" featuring the excursion boat Carmen Sylva. It was not clear why she had sunk so there was an official investigation. Conclusion: no wrong-doing, just unfortunate circumstances. The ship was attached to a pontoon. That pontoon had a leak due to corrosion, filled with water gradually and pulled the ship with it. She has been taken to a shipyard in the meantime and the new owner will turn it into his private "home on water", in addition to a house I guess. He is a local business man in the construction industry.

 

notamermaid

 

 

A home on the water can be a good thing!  But expensive!!

[notamermaid]

8 minutes ago, moonriver54 said:

A home on the water can be a good thing!  But expensive!!

This one cost him at auction 20,600 euros. The repairs - who knows. But I am confident the gentleman has the mindset - living at the river - and the skills - construction industry - to make them go well. It is reported that for him it is "a dream come true". Being local he may well have sailed on the boat on an excursion. Which I did, by the way, quite a few years ago.

 

notamermaid

 

[moonriver54]

3 hours ago, notamermaid said:

This one cost him at auction 20,600 euros. The repairs - who knows. But I am confident the gentleman has the mindset - living at the river - and the skills - construction industry - to make them go well. It is reported that for him it is "a dream come true". Being local he may well have sailed on the boat on an excursion. Which I did, by the way, quite a few years ago.

 

notamermaid

 

It'll be interesting to watch his progress on the construction.  Looks kind of chilly over there in Europe!

[notamermaid]

It certainly is cool here. Frankfurt has been just that tiny bit colder than the Middle Rhine valley. Night frosts are all around. Days tend to be warmer than zero still. As I have mentioned before, January tends to be colder here than December. The short interlude of proper snow at the beginning of December last year was fun. Will see how it goes this year.

 

I have mentioned KD a few times recently and the MS Goethe, which is now in the winter harbour in the same basin as the Viking ships. So here is some info with a photo of the ship that has recently returned to Mannheim after having been checked through at Cologne, the former MS Mainz, now the museum ship Mannnheim:

http://www.paddlesteamers.info/RheinHistory.htm

 

A short older video of the ship at her mooring:

 

notamermaid

 

 

 

[notamermaid]

There will be a higher volume of water coming from the High Rhine so Basel has got a mild flood warning. This water will make the Upper Rhine valley levels rise in due course. I had mentioned the predicted rise at Maxau in my post yesterday. Right now Maxau is below the official flooding threshold but we have an early alert, which here means the flooding level will be reached most likely by tomorrow evening. The 750cm (river traffic ban) is still a tiny, tiny risk late on Saturday into Sunday.

 

Back to a photo I had posted before:

On 11/17/2023 at 5:19 PM, notamermaid said:

...

 

 

That is an interesting shot... I will elaborate with a bit more time.

 

notamermaid

 

 

In this photo the fire brigade is closing a gate in the flood protection wall at Neuwied. The gentleman on the right is standing at the bronze scale which shows the height of the Rhine and when the flooding occurred in/at the town. There are several markings and when you stand there it is quite fascinating to follow the dates up and up with your eyes. Did this on a guided tour. The highest marking is on 23 December 1993. I found the corresponding scale at the other gate: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cb/Pegel_1.JPG

Imagine the man in the photo standing there with his head at the second marking. The two upmost ones are close together. The difference is: in 1926 the town did not have the wall and was flooded, in 1993 it had the wall and was dry.

 

By the way, some time last week I saw on marinetraffic.com a blue dot at Neuwied which means a river cruise ship or excursion boat was docked there. It turned out to be the Viking Gefjon docking there for the night. That is odd as the town does not have a river cruise ship dock (yet). It was actually at the industrial harbour there it seems. I did not know that this was possible.

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

Right, Hauenstein in the High Rhine area is on flooding level I, there is an alert for the Aare river in Switzerland, a large tributary of the Rhine. Basel will see rising levels. There is a warning for the Upper Rhine valley and a pre-alert for the Middle Rhine valley. For river traffic this means of course extra vigilance and I am afraid the forecast at Maxau is giving us a higher probability for a river traffic ban now. Expected level at midnight is about 680cm. By tomorrow lunchtime it will likely be at 720cm already. A ban is issued at 750cm.

 

notamermaid

 

[MotherDaughterTravels]

Notor, We are heading from Nuremberg up to Bamberg/Wurtzberg on the Main in about a week.  Will your latest post mean this area will be in flood stage also?  I assume so but have not idea. Thanks as always, Laurie

[notamermaid]

22 minutes ago, MotherDaughterTravels said:

Notor, We are heading from Nuremberg up to Bamberg/Wurtzberg on the Main in about a week.  Will your latest post mean this area will be in flood stage also?  I assume so but have not idea. Thanks as always, Laurie

Nuremberg to Bamberg is the Main Danube Canal. That is lock controlled as well as the Main, i.e. further towards Würzburg. Water levels can be regulated to some extent. Right now I see no warnings about elevated levels in that area. But it could flood at some point this winter of course and then the low bridges may pose a problem. That is something I cannot comment on in detail. What happens on the Main is only partially connected to the situation on the Rhine and flooding on the Rhine does not mean flooding on the Main. Weather can be different and man-made structures play a role.

 

If you feel like it send us a message during or after your cruise in this thread: https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2968897-christmas-markets-river-cruises-2023-infos-and-tips/page/3/#comment-66519048

We would love to see Christmas market cruise photos...

 

 

Have a great cruise.

 

notamermaid

 

 

 

 

[notamermaid]

6 hours ago, notamermaid said:

There is a warning for the Upper Rhine valley and a pre-alert for the Middle Rhine valley.

Apologies, that is partly wrong. This should read: There is a warning for most of the Upper Rhine valley and a pre-alert for the section leading up to the Middle Rhine valley.

On the map this looks like this (includes part of the High Rhine which I had hinted at):

 

I will be at work tomorrow so cannot post and update before late afternoon.

 

notamermaid

 

 

 

[notamermaid]

Maxau gauge has risen to 734cm. Peak expected for late tonight. Forecast says it will be around 740cm, so under the dreaded 750cm. Fingers crossed.

 

notamermaid

 

[moonriver54]

The snowy weather in Munich is really making the news.  Looks like the Munich airport is having trouble.

[notamermaid]

Just now, moonriver54 said:

The snowy weather in Munich is really making the news.  Looks like the Munich airport is having trouble.

Yes, it is. Saw that briefly on the news feed at work. A lot of snow in Bavaria. Dry here with me.

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

Looking good. I think Maxau gauge stay below 750cm. It is 739cm now.

 

notamermaid