Rhine - water levels and similar topics 2015

It's not that difficult to get around the area on your own, between public transportation, trains, and rental cars. We will be there in 2 months, mostly around Mainz, but we'll visit other places along the Rhine and Moselle.

 

We were in the exact situation that you fear - 2 years ago, we suddenly had to totally reinvent 2 weeks of holiday, due to the terrible Danube flood of 2013. We had no trouble finding places to stay on short notice; in fact, we didn't finalize the plans and reservations for the second week until we were already in Germany, halfway through the first week.

 

The trip was fantastic! Of course, it's all due to Chris' impressive planning skills; she has enough on her agenda to have a plan A, B, and C!

Good to hear, thanks! ;)

With the heavy El Nino predicted, you may get your prayers answered.

Yeah! Yes, Dolores arrived today in Sunland. ;)

At 8 AM, I awoke to loud thunder & lightening and now it has been a nice drizzle all afternoon. Time for pulling weeds tomorrow (well, if the rain slows down). :eek:

Still praying for European rivers and that all ships will sail. :cool:

Not much to report from the Rhine here. Grey and blue skies with pleasant temperatures after the heat.

Two dredgers (I know of, there might be more) are in place, one at Cologne and one further upstream digging out the navigation channel. That is regular maintenance work. Levels continue to fall slowly. The Danube has several official gauging station reporting low water, the Main has now at least two and the Neckar has one. The Neckar is a tributary to the Rhine. The smaller rivers are not feeding the Rhine enough water. But neither the Rhine nor the Moselle have official gauging stations reporting low water yet.

As of 10am European Summer Time.

notamermaid

Not much to report from the Rhine here. Grey and blue skies with pleasant temperatures after the heat.

 

Two dredgers (I know of, there might be more) are in place, one at Cologne and one further upstream digging out the navigation channel. That is regular maintenance work. Levels continue to fall slowly. The Danube has several official gauging station reporting low water, the Main has now at least two and the Neckar has one. The Neckar is a tributary to the Rhine. The smaller rivers are not feeding the Rhine enough water. But neither the Rhine nor the Moselle have official gauging stations reporting low water yet.

 

As of 10am European Summer Time.

 

notamermaid

Good to hear, thank you! Looks like Cologne is expecting rain 3 days in the next week. I hope it helps!

Good to hear, thank you! Looks like Cologne is expecting rain 3 days in the next week. I hope it helps!

FX! I'd hate for our cruise to turn into a bus trip.

FX! I'd hate for our cruise to turn into a bus trip.

Me too, hiccups. ;) I already had to prepare my DH for that and he wasn't happy about it but knows there's nothing we can do (except hope for rain!).

The upper Moselle gauging station is now reporting low water. The Neckar station has returned to mean water status. No changes to the - as yet reasonably favourable - reports from the French/German Rhine. I have not heard anything about the Dutch Waal and Lower Rhine.

Authorities predict further fall of levels, only slowly and slightly, though.

In the event of low water what you usually hear is the barges only take half load and can still sail then, at that point I assume that few river cruise ships will be affected. When it gets really low you can see the treacherous rocks in the Middle Rhine valley sticking out of the water. Then more and more ships will have to seize sailing.

notamermaid

Thanks for the update. We'll be on the Moselle in a couple of weeks. We're only going as far upstream as Schweich, so we should be OK I hope.

FuelScience

It is raining now in the Rhine valley here, but serious storm warnings North of Bonn are in place.

It is the sort of the strength when a child with an umbrella could be lifted of its feet slightly and depending on the direction of the wind the Rhine appears to be flowing in the other direction.

The low is coming from the Netherlands.

It is unpleasant and I would be careful of lightweight chairs in ice cream parlours suddenly coming towards me.

The storm will no doubt cause disruptions to public transport. Usually fallen trees but also sometimes damaged power lines are the problem.

On the plus side: all gauging stations on the Rhine, Moselle and Main report mean water levels. No more official low water levels.

notamermaid

Thanks for the update notamermaid appreciate. Stay safe.

We are currently sailing on Viking Eistla and in Bamberg. Tomorrow we will change ships with the Viking Bestal docked in Passau. The low waters are between Regensburg and Passau and impassable. Viking has kept us very informed and a detailed briefing today explained the entire procedure. We will pack and have our bags out by 8:30 am and while we are on our normal planned excursion for the day our luggage will travel ahead of us to Passau and be placed in the same room number cabin as we currently have. The bestla and the Eistla are identical. We will be transferred by viking motor coaches to the Bestla after our excursion. The ride will be approximately 3 hours with a 15 minute bathroom stop half way. We will board the Bestla and our cruise will continue as planned for the next week. Viking has been very organized and we are feeling well cared for. They have taken care of every detail beyond our expectations. The trip so far has been magical and I can not say enough good thing about the staff. Our tour Director (David) who is wonderful and our Concierge ( Nina) also wonderful will transfer with us to the new ship to keep everything running smooth and we have familiar faces with us. Loving the care from Viking!!!

Thanks for the report! This is indeed a time when Vikings many boats is a blessing! Safe journey

Hello wombat13,

Thank you for the wishes. Storm is gone and not much change to water levels. It has not rained much.

The Main around Frankfurt is low now.

notamermaid

Over the next 7 days, I see predicted:

Strasbourg - 4 days with rain

Cologne - 2 days with rain (plus today)

AMS - 4 days (plus today)

Zurich - 3 days (plus today)

notamermaid - does that look accurate to you? I hope that will help some!

We are traveling on the Viking Aegir in September. I hope the water levels rise soon!

Hello,

Over the next 7 days, I see predicted:

 

Strasbourg - 4 days with rain

Cologne - 2 days with rain (plus today)

AMS - 4 days (plus today)

Zurich - 3 days (plus today)

 

notamermaid - does that look accurate to you? I hope that will help some!

Rain has indeed been forecast for the Rhine area, it has rained here a bit (and more than just a bit, in between). I am sure what you have looked up is about right. :) Have not looked further into this apart from the Middle Rhine section.

Levels, I am afraid, are not rising too much.

Currently there are officially: 4 low level markings on the Main, one on the Neckar and one on the Moselle. I am refering to the German Mosel, it appears the level is even lower in comparison upstream in France (large vessel river cruises do not go there - not on any itinerary so far from what I have seen). A few have been scraping around the low level mark for days on the Rhine and Moselle. The Upper Rhine is doing a little better than the Middle Rhine and the Lower Rhine.

The Middle Rhine is not getting enough water from the Neckar, Main and Moselle.

Oh, a word of advice: do not be alarmed if you read the water level is at 1.60m and your ship has a draft of 1.70m! The level is read at specific stations but the navigation channel depth is what counts for your boat. Two different things.

notamermaid

Thanks once again, notamermaid! Appreciate the info.! :)

The water level along the Rhine has fallen further, many local news reports of the situation for the shipping industry. Reduced load or even half-load is necessary. The navigation channels are fine for the most part, where locks can be used to regulate the water the situation is better than in the "free-flowing" sections. In the regulated sections the authorities try to guarantee a certain height suitable for (let's say comfortable) navigation. The main concern at low water is always the castle stretch with its bends and many sandbanks and rocks. Yes, the Lorelei story...

The local ships are now affected as some berths cannot be reached in the small towns. The MS Goethe side wheeler for example.

So far I have not heard of any impacts for the large cruise ships.

The Elbe is so low the hungerstones are showing, on the Rhine I have not read about any yet. They are stones in the rivers marked by people in years of extreme draught, i.e. people were hungry in those years as agriculture suffered.

The Moselle is low-ish but as it is also regulated by locks (where the large cruise ships sail), therefore navigation is not impacted that much at the moment.

It is very warm again, possibly reaching 30 degrees Celsius, 86 Fahrenheit today.

notamermaid

We can definitely see the low river levels on the Rhine, based on the shoreline! So far, so good, though, with beautiful weather. We've just docked in Cologne.

We can definitely see the low river levels on the Rhine, based on the shoreline! So far, so good, though, with beautiful weather. We've just docked in Cologne.

Encouraging to hear, thanks!

Hello,

I am back from holiday on my favourite island where it was warm and sunny but as always the English are of a different opinion ;) and called it 'o'. Some people seem to be dropping h and t by the dozen. :D Well, to be fair they had not come from the scorching Rhine valley as I had done. Checking the river levels on my return, I read that the level had fallen even further during the middle of August causing a few problems in the Middle Rhine valley. The RMS Goethe paddle ship is not running its normal schedule due to low water for example (it has the deepest draft of the local ships). It has relocated further downstream for the time being. If you are around Cologne during the next week you might see it there. A few smaller docking stations are still closed.

The situation has eased a bit and the levels are scrapping along the official "low" mark but never quite falling under it.

It was raining this morning but that will not have much of an impact. Temperatures are due to rise tomorrow, probably reaching 83 Fahrenheit in Cologne on Saturday.

notamermaid

Thanks for the update, notamermaid!

Welcome home, notamermaid! And lucky that you're not, with all of the low water levels... ;)

Soon we'll be seeing the Rhine for ourselves! After we pick up my Audi, we're driving south for a few days in Schweiz, then back to the Rhein and Mosel region for a few days. We're staying in Mainz. Can't wait to be back, and to enjoy some great food and Getränke!

Hello jpalbny,

Thank you. :) And it is hot, again. I miss the sea and its cool breeze. Hurt my arm from throwing shingles (stones) into the water. :(

When you drive by on the Rhine give me a shout. :D The next beer garden is just round the corner. Mainz, nice town, check out the more sophisticated Wiesbaden and its spa just over the river if you have got two hours to spare. Ever thought of "driving in" the Audi on the Nürburgring race track? I have heard of people doing that but I do not know how you apply and if they still allow it.

Safe travels.

notamermaid

Koblenz is one of those towns where, when you start digging, you nearly always find something of interest. Sometimes something unwanted and highly dangerous. Yesterday, an exploded American bomb from the Second World War was defused near the old town right on the Moselle. If was found (and defused at site) at the building site where the old swimming baths where knocked down a couple of months ago. 10.000 locals had to be evacuated. The Moselle was closed on a short section, train traffic was halted, air traffic stopped over Koblenz and the cable cars to the fortress did not run.

With this incident you can sort of get an idea of how much effort is involved in such an operation as the building site is right next to Balduin bridge and the socalled "Alte Burg", the "old castle". It is just 200m from where the ships dock on the Moselle.

notamermaid