Rhine water levels 2023 and similar topics

[notamermaid]

Update: a container ship is also at the scene to stabilize the barge, as well as the tugboat holding the position of the tanker as it needs to be kept from drifting the moment it looses touch with the ground. So no chance of traffic getting past.

 

River traffic will resume in a coordinated manner, i.e. regulated by the authorities. Upstream sailing has priority.

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

Update: the tanker has been freed. The lighter and the tanker will sail and then anchor in Bingen. River traffic is resuming, upstream sailing has priority as I mentioned.

 

notamermaid

 

 

 

[Pushka]

11 minutes ago, notamermaid said:

Update: the tanker has been freed. The lighter and the tanker will sail and then anchor in Bingen. River traffic is resuming, upstream sailing has priority as I mentioned.

 

notamermaid

 

 

 

Thankyou Thankyou Thankyou for this update. I'm hoping things will still be on track now. 

[notamermaid]

6 hours ago, Pushka said:

Thankyou Thankyou Thankyou for this update. I'm hoping things will still be on track now. 

My pleasure. I am only the messenger.

A big relief for everyone. And well done to the teams working hard to get the traffic flowing again.

It looks as if the backlog has been cleared.

 

The Viking Kara signalled at Boppard earlier and may be docked in Koblenz right now. No terrestrial signal available.

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

For the record. According to the police report of WSP-Station St. Goar a tanker got grounded at Bacharach on 6 December at about 7.45am.  The tanker was freed around lunchtime on 7 December, so river traffic was allowed to resume at 1.11pm for the upstream direction. The downstream direction followed later. So river traffic was suspended for about 29 hours.

 

The Viking Kara left Rüdesheim at about 1.46pm and sailed downstream.

 

notamermaid

 

[Host Jazzbeau]

Just an idle question:  why was upstream traffic given priority?

[Canal archive]

Is that the Cheshire cat I see disappearing?

[masonpips]

FYI we’re doing Cologne to Basel starting tomorrow on Uniworld and they’ve amended our last night to be in a hotel in Basel. Our itinerary is slightly amended to add Heidelberg back in (which I loved 5 years ago). 

[notamermaid]

9 hours ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

Just an idle question:  why was upstream traffic given priority?

Sorry, I have no idea. It was no mentioned in the reports.

 

We now have a forecast that shows almost certainty for flooding at Maxau from the 10th. But first a look at November.

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

1 hour ago, masonpips said:

FYI we’re doing Cologne to Basel starting tomorrow on Uniworld and they’ve amended our last night to be in a hotel in Basel.

Thank you for the info. That is interesting. It looks as if Uniworld is doing a pre-emptive change due to the expected flooding. Smart move.

 

The German authorities are stating this: "Aufgrund des für das Wochenende vorhergesagten Tauwetters mit Regen werden die Wasserstände am Oberrhein ab dem morgigen Samstag stark ansteigen. Am Pegel Maxau wird ein Überschreiten der Meldehöhe von 700 cm am späten Samstag oder frühen Sonntag erwartet."

 

So, as I said, a thaw with rain making the levels rise. Maxau gauge is expected to reach official flooding status of 700cm late on Saturday or early Sunday.

 

To which I may add that it is likely now that there will be a river traffic ban.

 

notamermaid

 

Edited December 8, 2023 by notamermaid
added info

[notamermaid]

Let us have a look at how the river did at Kaub in November:

At Kaub the river was relatively high for the season, November started around the long-term statistical mean (that is several years). From that the river was then able to rise quickly after heavy rain to flood mark I and beyond. That was not good but not dramatic. But - hang on - wasn't there flooding and a river traffic ban on the Rhine? Yes, you cannot see it at Kaub, this was only the section further upstream that includes Maxau gauge, as well as Basel in Switzerland for a short time. This is the graph for Maxau:

 

Although the figures more or less correspond in their rise, the situation at Maxau was more serious and the conditions on the river and along its banks made the authorities issue a river traffic ban. This happens at 750cm, the line marked with flood level II and HSW, this stands for the level which is the highest allowed for river traffic.

 

The level at Maxau gauge fell but remained high throughout the rest of November and from there we now face another rise. The baseline being so high, the rain and snow melt give us the prospect of another river cruise ban. The newspapers are already reporting on the forecast and weather giving us a high risk of flooding. 750cm is almost certain and 780cm is very likely. This fast rise is expected to start in the early hours of Sunday and bring the river to 750cm and more within 24 hours.

This is the map with the warnings for Southern Germany:

At the end of the broken line at the bottom of the map is the Rhine knee at Basel, that is the sharp bend at which the Rhine changes course and flows North.

 

notamermaid

 

 

 

[notamermaid]

The temperatures have gone up already, the Rhine valley is well above zero and the sun is shining. Authorities are expecting the level to rise sharply at Hauenstein on the High Rhine this afternoon followed by Basel shortly after. The Aare tributary to the Rhine is on flood alert. The early warning has now been extended to the Middle Rhine valley.

 

notamermaid

 

 

[notamermaid]

The rises both at Hauenstein and Basel are now forecast for during the night, which means Maxau gauge's higher figures have been pushed well into Sunday. Maxau may reach 700cm by tomorrow night.

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

Basel is now rising fast and at Maxau gauge the rise has started. 700cm is expected for midnight there. Interestingly, authorities expect the Moselle not to be hit that much by the current rain. But the levels will rise there as well, just not like on the Rhine.

 

Over on the Danube many tributaries to the river show elevated levels now.

 

notamermaid

 

[2inSETexas]

52 minutes ago, notamermaid said:

Basel is now rising fast and at Maxau gauge the rise has started. 700cm is expected for midnight there. Interestingly, authorities expect the Moselle not to be hit that much by the current rain. But the levels will rise there as well, just not like on the Rhine.

 

Over on the Danube many tributaries to the river show elevated levels now.

 

notamermaid

 

On the AmaMora. We stopped short of Basel last night, mooring at Breisach. We will stay here through disembarkation Monday. Still seeing traffic in the nearby locks.

[moonriver54]

16 minutes ago, 2inSETexas said:

On the AmaMora. We stopped short of Basel last night, mooring at Breisach. We will stay here through disembarkation Monday. Still seeing traffic in the nearby locks.

Well...you almost made it all the way!  I apologize and realize this is off-topic, however my wife and I are considering a  river cruise aboard Ama Waterways next spring.  Do you recommend Ama?  We've cruised twice aboard Avalon and loved them, however we wanted to experiment with a different river cruise line.  Any thoughts/comments would be sincerely appreciated!  Thank you.

[CastleCritic]

2 hours ago, moonriver54 said:

Well...you almost made it all the way!  I apologize and realize this is off-topic, however my wife and I are considering a  river cruise aboard Ama Waterways next spring.  Do you recommend Ama?  We've cruised twice aboard Avalon and loved them, however we wanted to experiment with a different river cruise line.  Any thoughts/comments would be sincerely appreciated!  Thank you.

there are a good number of threads on various AMA cruises here. It's rare to find anyone who has anything bad to say about them, I did cruise #5 with them this year and have #6 booked for Egypt in 2025.

 

Much like the above situation, they generally have things pretty well handled and are well organized.

[moonriver54]

Thank you!  If you're about to embark on cruise #6 with Ama that's a very strong recommendation.  Greatly appreciated!

[notamermaid]

8 hours ago, 2inSETexas said:

On the AmaMora. We stopped short of Basel last night, mooring at Breisach. We will stay here through disembarkation Monday. Still seeing traffic in the nearby locks.

A good move to avoid Basel. Breisach is near enough for Plan B logistics, hopefully the next river cruise downstream will work out well for the passengers.

 

Hope you have a good day in Breisach and transfer to Basel.

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

We have had the first small wave going through Hauenstein and Basel. A slight decrease in levels now. This will be followed by a stronger wave. It is uncertain how much stronger this will be.

 

Maxau gauge is on flood mark I, running slightly below the forecast. It is at 691cm. The small wave coming from Basel will be in Maxau tomorrow. A river traffic ban is still likely tomorrow but the forecast is not as certain as yesterday about this. With the second wave it looks almost certain.

 

The Neckar river has risen and the tributaries to the Main river will bring the levels of that river up. All this water will add quite a bit of volume to what the Rhine is bringing with it from the Alps. Levels in the Middle Rhine valley are therefore also already rising.

 

notamermaid

 

 

[Pushka]

7 hours ago, notamermaid said:

We have had the first small wave going through Hauenstein and Basel. A slight decrease in levels now. This will be followed by a stronger wave. It is uncertain how much stronger this will be.

 

Maxau gauge is on flood mark I, running slightly below the forecast. It is at 691cm. The small wave coming from Basel will be in Maxau tomorrow. A river traffic ban is still likely tomorrow but the forecast is not as certain as yesterday about this. With the second wave it looks almost certain.

 

The Neckar river has risen and the tributaries to the Main river will bring the levels of that river up. All this water will add quite a bit of volume to what the Rhine is bringing with it from the Alps. Levels in the Middle Rhine valley are therefore also already rising.

 

notamermaid

 

 

Which river ports are impacted by Maxau Levels please. 

[notamermaid]

5 hours ago, Pushka said:

Which river ports are impacted by Maxau Levels please. 

It is a section of river that does not contain many ports that river cruise ships use. It is easier to say that ships are banned from sailing in that area. The section contains Karlsruhe:

 

Depending on how far the flooding extends and the severity of it, we could see a river traffic ban from Rheinfelden through Basel, Breisach, Iffezheim lock, Speyer and Mainz up to Bingen. But we are not there yet. It is a probability. The (mild flooding) warnings have now been extended to Bad Honnef near Bonn. For the moment we have a wave that is a little less than expected. But more is to come.

 

A river traffic ban at Maxau today is a cliffhanger. Current level is 742cm, only 8cm to go. Each section of river is a little different, so a ban at Maxau does not automatically lead to a ban further downstream. It depends on weather and the other tributaries and the geography of the river valley. The Moselle is not carrying a huge volume of water although it is high so that is good for the sections past Koblenz. Not sure what to make of the Main river situation for the Gorge. We will need to wait and see.

 

The flood warning service is active, you can look up all the graphs in one place. This is it:

https://www.pegelonline.wsv.de/webservices/zeitreihe/visualisierung?ansicht=mehrfach&pegelnummer=2310010&pegelnummer=23700200&pegelnummer=23900200&pegelnummer=25100100&pegelnummer=25900700&&pegelnummer=2730010&start=2023-11-10T00:00

 

When you click the coloured numbers top right, the figures for that respective gauge show up in the right column.

 

Sorry folks, this is not looking good. Cutting out Basel and docking at Breisach may not be enough Plan B for a river cruise from Basel to Amsterdam.

 

Not sure how else to mark it, so this arrow in the white field does it. Breisach in relation to Maxau further downstream  near Karlsruhe:

 

notamermaid

 

[2inSETexas]

On 12/10/2023 at 1:40 PM, moonriver54 said:

Well...you almost made it all the way!  I apologize and realize this is off-topic, however my wife and I are considering a  river cruise aboard Ama Waterways next spring.  Do you recommend Ama?  We've cruised twice aboard Avalon and loved them, however we wanted to experiment with a different river cruise line.  Any thoughts/comments would be sincerely appreciated!  Thank you.

We’ve only sailed AmaWaterways on Europe cruises. This sailing was our fourth. We very much recommend them. They took good care in planning around the flood levels and the tanker in the gorge.

[moonriver54]

Thanks very much!  Have a safe trip home!

[notamermaid]

The level at Maxau is now steady at 746cm. Looks like this is the plateau for the time being, with a slight drop to follow. Then, at this point in time, the forecast indicates the 750cm and river cruise ban to very likely occur in 26 to 28 hours.

 

notamermaid