Rhine water levels 2023 and similar topics

[notamermaid]

Happy, uninterrupted sailing for everyone! During the night the authorities lifted the river traffic ban. I had omitted mentioning that the other section around Speyer had already had the ban lifted earlier. So the river is free. But make no mistake, the river is high so there needs to be adjusted sailing, meaning extra vigilance and different speed. This will continue along several stretches of the river.

https://www.swr.de/swraktuell/baden-wuerttemberg/karlsruhe/schifffahrt-bei-karlsruhe-wieder-freigegeben-100.html

 

With the Rhine river still being fed with high volumes of water from Switzerland and Lake Constance and rain coming, the Upper Rhine will remain high enough for the authorities' computer modelling to see the alert status for mild flooding continue at Maxau for the rest of the year. For the next two days we can relax and then we will have another look at the forecast.

 

notamermaid

 

 

 

[travelwiththediva]

30 minutes ago, notamermaid said:

Happy, uninterrupted sailing for everyone! During the night the authorities lifted the river traffic ban. I had omitted mentioning that the other section around Speyer had already had the ban lifted earlier. So the river is free. But make no mistake, the river is high so there needs to be adjusted sailing, meaning extra vigilance and different speed. This will continue along several stretches of the river.

https://www.swr.de/swraktuell/baden-wuerttemberg/karlsruhe/schifffahrt-bei-karlsruhe-wieder-freigegeben-100.html

 

With the Rhine river still being fed with high volumes of water from Switzerland and Lake Constance and rain coming, the Upper Rhine will remain high enough for the authorities' computer modelling to see the alert status for mild flooding continue at Maxau for the rest of the year. For the next two days we can relax and then we will have another look at the forecast.

 

notamermaid

 

 

 

Thank you.  Will be boarding Idi on Friday in Basel. 

[Pushka]

@notamermaid - do you have the actual date that the upper Rhine was closed by authorities and for how long (at that time). Gathering information. 😁

[ural guy]

38 minutes ago, Pushka said:

@notamermaid - do you have the actual date that the upper Rhine was closed by authorities and for how long (at that time). Gathering information. 😁

Did you get to do any sailing?  

[RDVIK2016]

1 hour ago, Pushka said:

@notamermaid - do you have the actual date that the upper Rhine was closed by authorities and for how long (at that time). Gathering information. 😁

Pushka, notamermaid's last link is to a radio report with transcription the speaks to the area of the Rhine at Karlsruhe.  It says that river traffic was stopped last Tuesday, that would be 12 December and traffic was restarted at 1 AM in the night from Sunday the 17th into Monday the 18th. Hope this helps you set the time frame. Karlsruhe is about half way between Bingen and Basel, which are the limits of the Upper Rhine.

RDVIK

[notamermaid]

1 hour ago, Pushka said:

@notamermaid - do you have the actual date that the upper Rhine was closed by authorities and for how long (at that time). Gathering information. 😁

If I could ask you to look back in the thread a little... But here is also the timeline updated, this is for Maxau:

 

Basically, within an hour or two of crossing the line river traffic was officially banned. Again please check earlier posts. The graph crosses the line again shortly after midnight and as I wrote this morning, the authorities lifted the ban during the night. Which means it must have been without four hours of the river dropping below 750cm. In the graph above that is about five and a half days of no sailing around Maxau.

 

Note that river traffic was not banned anywhere between Mainz and the German border to the Netherlands. I am not sure at the moment how far a ship may have got upstream from Mainz. I do not have any info on the Netherlands. The Basel section was also blocked for a while.

 

Note that traffic is warned two hours before the ban is issued so that a ship can find a place to anchor and everyone has access to the same info I gather from the graphs published online. Newspapers - this time with evidence and without hyperbole - discussed an imminent river traffic ban a good 24 hours before it happened.

 

Hope this helps in addition to RDVIK2016's post.

 

notamermaid

 

 

 

[notamermaid]

10 minutes ago, RDVIK2016 said:

traffic was restarted at 1 AM in the night

Thanks. I had missed that. Which corrects my post saying that the authorities did it within four hours. That was my conclusion. The level dropped to 749cm at 1am and the authorities lifted the ban there and then:

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

For your info, here is a newspaper article from 11 December (tourism website). Impending river traffic bans: https://www.fvw.de/touristik/destination/steigende-wasserstaende-auf-dem-rhein-drohen-fahrverbote-239251

"Am Dienstag werde dort eine Überschreitung von Marke II erwartet, bei der der Schiffsverkehr gänzlich eingestellt wird."

 

notamermaid

 

[ddaley822]

On 12/16/2023 at 1:49 PM, notamermaid said:

A short video (as always, ignore the German commentary if you wish), just to show you the appealing village of Leutesdorf in flooding.

This video was awesome, much more flooding than I was picturing. I am learning German for my Rhine cruise this summer so I listened to the audio and could pick out about every 10th word! haha Sehr gut! 

[notamermaid]

1 hour ago, ddaley822 said:

This video was awesome, much more flooding than I was picturing.

This is mild... It is obviously not good but people are used to this. Usually things are laid back, everybody knows what to do where at what reading on the respective gauge. Here is another fun learning video for you. This one is from Oestrich-Winkel which is near Rüdesheim. The gentleman from the fire brigade explains the procedures, you know, we are prepared, no big deal... The couple especially came to the embankment to enjoy walking along the blocked off main road. And at the end - the water was likely going to rise till the following day - it says they plan to come back the next day and as they say "einen Schoppen trinken", that means drinking a glass of wine.

https://www.hessenschau.de/tv-sendung/hochwasser-in-hessen--pegelstaende-am-rhein-steigen,video-191268.html

 

Note that this was on the 15th, so the water has receded by now.

 

notamermaid

 

 

[notamermaid]

It has started raining again and the forecast says that the next few days will be unsettled, mild and stormy. Water levels in the Upper Rhine valley will fall for the next 36 hours but then we will likely already see the effect of the rain - which has little chance in these temperatures to come down much as snow - and the levels rise. At Maxau, seeing that the level is still high, this could be problematic. We will know more on Friday.

 

Switzerland is still reporting high levels in parts and expects a rise for example for Lake Geneva and others.

 

notamermaid

 

[CDNPolar]

We board on Saturday December 23rd in Amsterdam and sail the Rhine to Basel.  

 

Are there any concerns now with either high or low levels that would impact our sailing?

[notamermaid]

18 minutes ago, CDNPolar said:

We board on Saturday December 23rd in Amsterdam and sail the Rhine to Basel.  

 

Are there any concerns now with either high or low levels that would impact our sailing?

Certainly not low. Levels in the Netherlands are elevated, but on the way down. But this is something I cannot comment on further, not being familiar with the Waal, canals and the bridges situation. The High Rhine and the Upper Rhine valley are still high, so a slight concern is for that region.

 

With the Maxau area having only been accessible since Monday logistics may still not be easy and hopefully all river cruise ships can be ready and in position, or companies have a satisfactory Plan B for passengers.

 

No change to the forecast at Maxau gauge which is not favourable for the 23rd but we need to wait another day to get a clearer picture.

 

notamermaid

 

 

 

[notamermaid]

We have storm warnings all over Germany. Heavy rain in parts. Flooding will return. The newspapers are writing about it.  It is not yet clear how much it will be, but Hauenstein will probably rise significantly. Basel may follow. Maxau gauge is expected to rise in due course. It is now at 703cm. It was clear that the level would stay high after the river traffic ban was lifted. The rain over the next three days is not good.

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

Storm and rain here, with the river estuaries filling, the water being pushed up the rivers. A dangerous situation.

 

Rivers inland okay but not pleasant weather at all around here.

 

Quick look (I will be busy tomorrow) at the graph reveals that at Maxau gauge the forecast sees the situation as not being as bad as feared. A river cruise ban is still a possibility, just not likely.

 

notamermaid

 

[moonriver54]

2 hours ago, notamermaid said:

Storm and rain here, with the river estuaries filling, the water being pushed up the rivers. A dangerous situation.

 

Rivers inland okay but not pleasant weather at all around here.

 

Quick look (I will be busy tomorrow) at the graph reveals that at Maxau gauge the forecast sees the situation as not being as bad as feared. A river cruise ban is still a possibility, just not likely.

 

notamermaid

 

Any idea how far you're ahead of your average annual rainfall at this juncture???  Sure seems like it's been a wet fall and first day of winter!  Happy Winter Solstice!

[Host Jazzbeau]

I'm thinking back to a previous year that was very dry, and even the winter rains didn't replenish the water levels.  At least we should go into next spring with full reservoirs and water tables to protect against the summer heat!

[notamermaid]

Maxau gauge - 750cm and river cruising ban again higher in the probability. A cliffhanger.

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

Unhappy news from Cologne. There has been a fire on the river cruise ship "Rheinprinzessin". Four crew members and one passenger have been taken to hospital as they have inhaled the smoke. The ship has been evacuated and the passengers are staying in hotels. 130 passengers were on the ship and several more walking in town. The ship sails for Phoenix Reisen.

https://www1.wdr.de/nachrichten/rheinland/brand-auf-dem-rhein-koeln-100.html

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

Hauenstein is on official flooding status. Basel has risen a lot today. The rise at Maxau gauge has just started. It is now at 701cm.

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

20 hours ago, moonriver54 said:

Any idea how far you're ahead of your average annual rainfall at this juncture???  Sure seems like it's been a wet fall and first day of winter!  Happy Winter Solstice!

Thank you. It seems more rain than usual but it is also too warm so we have just had less snow, more rain. Have no statistics ready.

 

19 hours ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

 At least we should go into next spring with full reservoirs and water tables to protect against the summer heat!

Water tables will certainly be better. Our reservoir is Lake Constance and that is quite full.

 

notamermaid

 

[Host Jazzbeau]

Thinking again about past years.  I was just reading about the winter of 2010-11, when the Rhine froze and passengers, crew and supplies had to be bussed to an idle ship nearby.  This is the earliest example I remember of a ship swap, and was definitely before the river cruise lines had it as a regular back-up plan!

 

[notamermaid]

2 hours ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

I was just reading about the winter of 2010-11, when the Rhine froze and passengers, crew and supplies had to be bussed to an idle ship nearby.

A rarity these days. Can you recall what places on the Rhine were mentioned? Few sections see proper ice in modern times.

 

notamermaid

 

[Host Jazzbeau]

42 minutes ago, notamermaid said:

A rarity these days. Can you recall what places on the Rhine were mentioned? Few sections see proper ice in modern times.

 

notamermaid

 

No, sorry.  He mentioned being able to sail to Rudesheim on the new ship, so I'm assuming the freeze was in Basel for the start of the usual Rhine itinerary 'B to A.'

[notamermaid]

Maxau gauge at 731cm. Expected to rise to about 750cm tonight.

 

notamermaid