Current problems on the rivers

[steamboats]

Hi all,

 

Due to a "very strange" weather with lots of heavy rainfalls all rivers were rising during the last week. Temperatures are down to 50 something and we even have some part which got some snow (above 2300 ft above sea level) (traffic news this morning even requested snow chains for a certain area!). Especially the Main river area was affected by high waters but navigation wasn´t shut down. The Danube river was closed for navigation yesterday a couple of hours between Kelheim and Passau. As the water levels are going down currently all is o.k..

 

The Main river has a major problem as a towboat with a fuel barge got stuck at a bridge near Hanau (lower part of the Main river). The boat is still blocking the river and navigation is shut down. The barge is filled with diesel fuel. So even the brigde is closed for traffic for security reasons.

 

steamboats

[rundent]

Steamboats, you're the best!

[steamboats]

Oh, thanks, rudent! :)

 

Obviously they managed to salvage the towboat and barge today. Here are some photos:

 

http://www.hanauonline.de/content/blogcategory/128/172/

 

They were able to unload the diesel fuel and then pushed the unit away from the bridge and into the Hanau harbor.

 

steamboats

[amyr]

Steamboats - I'm glad to see you're still keeping everyone informed about river conditions.

 

Your updates and links were invaluable to me when I was sweating the Spring floods on the Danube in April.

 

Amy

[M&T]

We'll be watchin g you posts. We will be on the Danube at the beginning of July. Thanks for your help. Marlyne

[nancycoop1]

Thanks for the continuing info on the river conditions. We aren't going until August/September, but I am watching the rivers. Keep posting!!

 

Nancy

[wbrumel]

Just started watching this board as I am going on Danube trip in October. I was wondering how often the river depth is a problem. Any thoughts on the likelihood of it affecting our trip in October? Thanks for the info. I'll be checking back often.

[steamboats]

I can´t make any forecasts about the river levels :( . It all depends on the weather (not reagarding the usual spring floods after snow melt). This year we had lots of snow and heavy rains in the end of March which caused an ususual high flood (affecting our cruise). And again we had about two weeks of rain and temps in the lower 50ies (anyone speaking of global warming :confused: ) which is much too cold for end of May / beginning of June. Usually river boats get into troubles on the Elbe river in August because of low waters but we had two years during the last 4 years with heavy rains and those causing floods on the Elbe river in August. You can also face draughts with low water which causes river traffic to stop.

 

So all I can do is trying to keep you updated on the river conditions (but I will watch those of the Mississippi and Ohio rivers in the end of June / mid July).

 

steamboats

[Livestotravel]

Hi - we experienced the effects of the flooding last week after three days of really hard rain. In Passau, we were told we couldn't continue to Regensburg and Nuremburg, but would be bussed there for our included excursions. The good news was that we could stay onboard those two nights and be bussed from where the Poetry docked at Vilshofen (wonderful small German town, we were happy to spend time in) to Prague, instead of from Nuremburg to Prague. It took the same amount of time, and the first half of the route was on a winding road through beautiful countryside - before getting on the motorway. I thought it was a plus!!

[M&T]

Steamboats: Where do you get your information about high water on the Danube? Or, is that your secret? Marlyne

[steamboats]

Marlyne,

 

No, that´s no secret :) ! I´m German living in Munich. And high waters in the End of May / early June do make it in our local news (TV and newspapers). And you can check the river levels online very easily (sorry, those websites are German only).

 

I´ve made a list of those websites on one of my other websites (unfortunately I haven´t been able to translate this site so far):

 

http://www.schaufelraddampfer.de/pages/links/wasserstE4nde.php

 

"Deutschland gesamt" is all of Germany, "Deutschland - Bayern" is Bavaria only (Main river, Canal, Danube river til Passau). The other links follow the Danube river in Austria and Slovakia. The last link is leading to similar websites in the Czeck Republik for the Moldau and Elbe rivers. Although the websites are mainly available in German only you can easily see the river conditions as all sites have maps with colored dots indicating the flood situation.

 

steamboats

[M&T]

Wow! That is great. Thanks.

[M&T]

I guess I should get a German dictionary. What do keine and pegel mit Vorhersage mean?

[steamboats]

Marlyne,

 

"Pegel" is "gage", "keine" is "no", "mit" is "with" and "Vorhersage" is "forecast". So all together: "no gage with forecast". Some of the river gages have forecasts so you can see how the water level will develop within a certain period. When you click on them you get some sort of diagram showing you the forecast.

 

By the way, this is my favorite online dictionary: http://www.leo.org

 

steamboats

[M&T]

Thanks. That is a great dictionary. Marlyne

[wbrumel]

Enjoyed looking at these river maps, even if I didn't understand the German! Is it safe to assume that green dots mean everything's ok?

[steamboats]

Yep, you´re right! Green is o.k.!

 

By the way from record lows we´re up to record highs (mid 80ies for the next few days). Just in time for the soccer world championship.

 

steamboats

[M&T]

Our weather has been the same way in Indiana. Going from record lows to record highs. I just hope we have blue skies and green light water levels for our trip. In reading the posts on this board, it appears that it is rare that the boats make it through the whole planned river itinerary.

[steamboats]

Marlyne,

 

Don´t worry they make it more often through the whole planned itinerary than they don´t :) ! Usually high waters affect one or two cruises and that´s it. It comes fast and it goes fast.

 

steamboats

[Sandie]

Steamboats,

 

Thank you for all of your wonderful information. It is very kind of you to keep everyone up to date as they plan their trips. We are planning a river cruise from Prague to Budapest in 2007. Is there a time of year that usually works out better than others when you consider water levels and temperatures?

 

Thank you,

Sandie

[amyr]

Steamboats - what's the current condition of the rivers. Are the boats all running fine? I'm wondering because my sister's boss is heading over on Friday with 40 other people on the Budapest to Nuremberg run.

[steamboats]

amyr,

 

I haven´t heard of any problems. Temps are up in the upper 80ies, hot and sunny with scattered T-storms.

 

steamboats

[amyr]

Thanks, Steamboats. I'll pass the good news along.

 

Amy

[steamboats]

Hi all,

 

I heard something on the radio which is not a real problem for navigation but connected with the cruise ships.

 

People living opposite the cruise ship landing in Regensburg complain about the noise made by the generators onboard. Those are running to provide electricity and they are running 24/7. In high season it´s not uncommon to tie up up to three cruise ships next to each other. The company operating the landing refuses to provide electricity from ashore as this would cost them 170.000 EUR for buildung the needed onshore "plug ins". The people living there say they can´t even open their windows at night as they can´t sleep. And not being able to open your windows is quite a thing with temps in the upper 80ies.

 

steamboats

[M&T]

That is really too bad. I guess we don't realize things like that when we cruise into a place. It's been really hot there too.

 

We leave Thursday AM to fly to Budapest. How are the river and the heat looking now? Thanks. Marlyne