notamermaid

I posted to illustrate the gravity of the situation, thank you for clarifying and sorry if this has caused any confusion. State of emergency in parts of Bavaria in the Allgäu region, the Danube basin's right tributaries there get the most rain. Weather front is turning like a wheel in the South of Germany throwing almost all the rain into one massive area with the Upper Rhine less affected. Neckar river has a river traffic ban. And the Regen river has risen again. Rhine at Iffezheim/Maxau getting close to river traffic ban. Passau gauge has just gone to 700cm. notamermaid

Time for me to retire for the night. I w ll leave you with the figure for Maxau - 689cm - and the info that the Basel Rhine knee has gone to flood warning level 3 according to the Swiss authorities. The gauge graph has also crossed the line for navigational flood mark II. That is high and river traffic may also face a ban in a section downstream from Basel (Rheinfelden to Kembs) according to the website primenews.ch. But that is not certain yet. 750cm at Maxau expected for Saturday 4pm to 6pm. notamermaid

In the Upper Rhine valley ships face a river traffic ban tomorrow evening (forecast as of now, time not definite) and the risk exists on the Danube of course. But how close is the river in Germany? At Pfelling the level is 511cm, the forecast trends towards 600cm for tomorrow evening. The authorities issue a ban at 620cm. Note that is only applies to a small section of the river, not Passau. It is time for me to call it a day. Safe travels to all those on the river. I will be back to report some time tomorrow afternoon. notamermaid

As you can see from the river threads we are not having fun in Germany with the weather. Here is a short report: https://www.iamexpat.de/lifestyle/lifestyle-news/level-3-weather-warning-issued-storms-forecast-germany I was at the river yesterday and all looked fine but I am far away from the areas that are experiencing torrential rain. Yesterday I also went to a museum to see Romantic Rhine paintings, the actual river is not so romantic this weekend in the Upper Rhine valley and the flooding will come to the Rhine Gorge on Sunday. I will be safely at work tomorrow while others down South may face water-related problems. Hope everyone will be safe and sound. Have a good weekend wherever you are. notamermaid

Thank you. Will be at work (which I enjoy) but also having some fun. Forgot to mention that the first bit of waterway from Amsterdam is actually a canal - the Amsterdam-Rhine Canal: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amsterdam–Rhine_Canal If you are interested in the whole waterways of Europe, here is a map: https://unece.org/DAM/trans/main/sc3/AGN_map_2018.pdf notamermaid

Passau with that bridge: https://www.feratel.com/webcams/deutschland/passau.html The bridge at Bogen: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eisenbahnbrücke_Bogen#/media/Datei:Eisenbahnbrücke_in_Bogen,.JPG Passau gauge at 648cm, 700cm expected tomorrow evening. notamermaid

As regards the time frame it is difficult to say. In theory we can see a river traffic ban further along the Rhine in Germany over the next week but at this point I would not say so at all. As the wave travels downriver we will see high levels all the way to Cologne in the next five days but the impact is not known, i.e. we cannot know what levels to expect exactly yet. I am afraid I am a bit short of time - busy weekend coming up - so I have not looked further into this. We can reasonably say that river traffic can be mildly impacted all the way into the Netherlands. You are travelling upstream to the confluence with the Main so will not be in the area where we expect the ban tomorrow. You turn East before that. You will also not be delayed at the Rhine locks therefore. However, the Main will carry additional water so there could be some effects for you (locks, bridges). From the Canal onto the Danube - that is so far into the future that we cannot say. It may return to normal by the time you get to the river at Kelheim. If the rain stops Sunday evening, we can hope that the wave has run through the river in 12 to 14 days time. But the authorities do think that the river will remain at a high level for a while albeit not flooding. With a bit more time I will report on the gauges downstream from Kaub. For now I can say that we will see a lot of water in the next week and in the Middle Rhine valley - which you will go through - the level will go up to navigational flood mark I and official mild flooding. So there can be delays. Depending on where your designated ship is now it may not be able to pick you up in Amsterdam and you may be swapped to a different one. It is a very long journey through Europe... Sorry to be vague. I hope it helps. Will be back for a short report later in the evening local time. notamermaid

Currently a barge is travelling upstream which is "carrying" a special precious cargo, another river cruise ship hull. The "NB212" has come from Kladovo and will be taken to the Netherlands. Looks like the transport will be delayed. Okay, no need to flatten the top deck with this ship - it has no functioning wheelhouse yet. Still, the river level may well prove to be too high. notamermaid

With the river rising so much the authorities are planning to ban river traffic on the Neckar in the Stuttgart section during the night from Friday to Saturday. This is Plochingen gauge upstream from Stuttgart: Heidelberg gauge is forecast to reach flooding level Saturday afternoon and will continue to rise well into Sunday. notamermaid

The situation is dramatic in parts of Baden-Württemberg. This is the flood warning map: It is reminiscent of 2013. Where it is purple on the map the authorities expect "a month of rain to fall in 48 hours". This is Basel: At Maxau 750cm are expected for Saturday afternoon. Best case scenario are 820cm Sunday lunchtime. River traffic ban almost inevitable according to the forecast. notamermaid

Crossing my fingers for the run to Regensburg. Flattening the top deck will certainly be helpful under the bridges and could do the trick. By the way, the bridges on the Canal and on the Main are so low that they do this there as standard. Forgot to mention that the ship can be made to sit deeper in the water by giving it extra ballast. Adds to the headroom. You have 70cm extra at Passau, great! Going upstream you will get to Bogen later which they say is the second worst bridge generally. notamermaid

It depends on the superstructure of your ship and where you are when the level has risen. Yes, the bridge near Bogen will be the bigger issue depending on your time frame. All the best. Passau gauge is now at 632cm, time stamp 18.00 hours local time. Thank you for explaining the bridges, folks. Much water coming from the Upper Danube, critical situation in some areas. Forecast for Regensburg: notamermaid

Brief update. It is not looking good. Maxau gauge is up to 663cm and on a fast trajectory up to 700cm. More on this later. notamermaid

The awareness is there, growing. And the local authorities have often what they call a "Starkregenkonzept". This essentially means that one should have an idea of what to do to prevent local flooding when it rains heavily. After the floods of 2021 we are painfully aware of what the smaller rivers can do in Rhineland-Palatinate. But elsewhere it is the same - you can even look up online for your particular street what will happen in a 10-year-flood, etc. Sometimes it just proves too much - like it always has done over the centuries. We need to look after our smaller places better, for sure. There is room for improvement. I know you are not the "roaring fun" type of person but I hope you have a good weekend. notamermaid

The river at Basel has risen significantly and is on navigational flood mark I. This is what that looks like: That water will reach Strasbourg and Germany during the night and tomorrow. I am afraid to say that a river traffic ban around Maxau has shown up in the predictions for two days now. This was still a modelling too far out into the future for me to alert you but we are now seeing the rising waters and continued rain so this river traffic ban is still in the graph and now we are in forecast time, meaning we can be more certain of what the situation will be on Saturday. Maxau graph suggests going to 750cm during the night from Saturday into Sunday. That is then a river cruise ban which the authorities will issue. In short a substantial rise at Maxau is a given, best case scenario right now is that the river will peak just below the 750cm, most likely scenario is that the river will briefly reach 800cm. A brief look at the gauges downstream from Maxau reveals that the authorities expect levels to go up to navigational flood mark I. For the Middle Rhine valley it is too early to say but Kaub looks increasingly likely, too. For that gauge we have a long term probability chart and that indicates this as a high probability. notamermaid

I have returned late from an afternoon trip and saw the river being at a high but still normal level, wondering what the flood warning map will look like next time I put it on my screen... It has got worse, as was to be expected, but first things first. Maxau gauge is going up again, now at 649cm so the 650cm we will see earlier than expected. This is the current map: We see the High Rhine on flood warning, with the Rhine up to Mannheim now on the early alert. Stuttgart going North shows the Neckar river on early alert which is not good for the Rhine of course. notamermaid

Christmas ornaments are really nice. For me it is always fridge magnets, but I also collect tea towels in England. Do not see many nice ones in Germany, but my Alsatian ones with stork and wine bottles on remind me of a nice trip to the area. I did that for some years, even did a gallery setting for the screen saver every few minutes. You can get small bottles of alcohol and I do like the special peach liqueur (Weinbergspfirsichlikör) from the Moselle and Middle Rhine valley. A bit difficult to get, best place may be Koblenz. Chocolates, biscuits, guglhupf (spelling?) from Alsace. Greek50, have a great trip. notamermaid

Oh my, was it 2002? My memory, did not notice that. I should have remembered really. I see that a few gauges in the Czech Republic have turned from green to yellow, denoting mild flooding. The map also shows flood warnings in Thuringia: I guess most of that is also the Elbe basin, right? notamermaid

I understand what you mean - better run the ship upstream as fast as possible and make it through Passau. Bussing and letting the ship sail on in the meantime is an interesting plan for Linz, typical for saving time and a standard on some itineraries, but more on the Main than on the Danube. I do hope the timing works. notamermaid

I thought about your situation in Munich and remembered that you said the Isar is definitely far down enough from you. Kelheim gauge is forecast to rise during the night, Regensburg will follow soon. We can expect the 630cm at Passau by early evening tomorrow. It may be earlier or later but it looks certain to happen. notamermaid

They have learnt from previous communication disasters. But I admit that I was a bit surprised about the four day warning and e-mail. I think it will prove to be a good move. notamermaid

Ach Du meine Güte. Hope you will not get inundated over there. 2003 was really, really bad. This has been suggested for a few places along the Rhine but this system seems to favour the Danube right now. It may turn over tomorrow again into the Rhine basin instead. As you know, the Rhine and Danube are close to each other in the Southwest. If it is as stable as you say and keeps turning round and round we will all get too much rain. In 2013 we had a bad year, in much of Europe, June saw the Rhine far too high and the Danube the Jahrhunderthochwasser at Passau. notamermaid

We are back to the situation where the Neckar will massively contribute to the high level of the Rhine. As a major tributary the river can have quite an impact on what is happening on the Rhine from Mannheim downstream to Mainz - where of course the Main joins the Rhine. We expect significant flooding along the Neckar which is currently busy draining the forests. It is still raining a little in the Black Forest and adjacent areas. We can expect a fast rise at Heidelberg on Saturday morning. notamermaid

The main difference is the number of passenger decks. I think the TUI Isla is the standard large size (135m) and standard height. Which is not good for passage under that bridge. Your captain will know best of course what will be possible and when. That may be the case. Plan B kicks in. River cruise companies do have them and your cruise director will know this. Ship swap, cancellation or bus trip spring to mind. Or just plain waiting till the wave has passed. Edit: same time posting as steamboats notamermaid

Brief update. The rainy weather has moved to Bavaria today and the East, as well as the Czech Republic. Plenty of water for the Elbe basin. We are of course watching Maxau gauge closely and there the figure is down to 638cm. This is a brief interlude before the high volume of water comes from Basel and the High Rhine. The gauge will go back to flood vigilance of 650cm some time tomorrow and after that - well we are not sure, but the High Rhine has gone to flood alert and it is raining in parts of the Swabian Alb and the Black Forest. More info tonight. notamermaid