notamermaid

The situation has dramatically worsened along the Elbe. Much water is also carried by the Vltava. News from Prague: https://praguemorning.cz/prague-closes-gates-on-certovka-and-embankments-due-to-flood-threat/ Dresden gauge is showing very high levels, current figure is 588cm, the peak is expected on the 29th: notamermaid

In my link above to the Austrian authorities' website I see that the situation in Austria has improved and the river is free for traffic again. Over at Passau the situation has improved, too, but the river is still too high: 705cm. notamermaid

Report from the Netherlands about the Ijssel river: https://nltimes.nl/2023/12/27/deventer-bracing-high-water-ijssel-river-will-tense notamermaid

One can see the volume of water of the Main rushing through Würzburg right now. It is very high. In the menu you can choose the archived short videos of previous days. The difference becomes clear: https://www.feratel.com/webcams/deutschland/wuerzburg-hotel-alter-kranen.html The highest level for river traffic is 340cm: The level now is 455cm. notamermaid

That is admirable. My organizational skills for travel have gone done dramatically in the last three years. I think I have not even left my country this year, although the nearest foreign soil is only a three hour drive away. Been to the river. It is very high and always when people have time off work a "tourist attraction". notamermaid

Cologne gauge peaked indeed at 808cm. All that water is still on its way to the Netherlands of course and we see the strongly elevated levels reflected on the map with the Dutch gauges now partly showing up in orange. It is mostly the Ijssel: notamermaid

The level at Cologne had been stable for a few hours but now I see the tiniest reduction in figures. Tentatively I would say that the peak was at 808cm and the level is now falling. Further upstream, Maxau gauge has gone down to 694cm. It looks as if the level will fall further and leave official flooding status and not return there this year. The Lower Rhine has the Ruhr (which is very high) and the Lippe (which is flooding) as tributaries of note but the high volumes there will most likely not cause major problems for river traffic. The Lower Rhine is very high but looks to be able to cope. All stations are on navigational flood mark I but are forecast to stay well under navigational flood mark II. notamermaid

Need to get some fresh air after yesterday's sherry and red wine, so I am off to do "Hochwasser gugge", that is I will join the hundreds of other people going for a walk and checking the Rhine river level. I anxiously checked the reports to see if I should take a bucket to get water out of the river so that ural guy can sail on, but it is now not necessary. 🙂 Talk to you later. notamermaid

Much of the high level of the Rhine in the Middle Rhine valley is due to the Main having to take the water from its tributaries in really large amounts right now and discharging it into the Rhine when that river is already high from what had come in the past 48 hours from the Upper Rhine. The Lahn river near Koblenz which you can see coming from the right in the map is also high. The flooding in colours: The red dot at Bamberg is the Upper Main which you cannot sail, you take the right fork when sailing upstream into the Main Danube Canal to get to Nuremberg. notamermaid

Sorry to read about the problems with your river cruise. Hope you had a relatively pleasant flight home. The Main is really high, higher than it had been when you were there. The tributaries are flooding and filling the large river. The last four weeks at Würzburg: notamermaid

The infamous Pfelling gauge with the low in summer, well, that is of course high as well and much more than double what we had in low water: 700cm. River traffic ban at 620cm. notamermaid

Maxau gauge is of course still high, but should be okay for river traffic till the rest of the year. Koblenz gauge is at its plateau and should be okay. Cologne now looks to stay below the threshold, not going over 810cm. Duisburg, which is already the Lower Rhine, should stay okay and well clear of a threshold for a river traffic ban. notamermaid

Oh that is good, yes saw that pin on the map in faint writing. I see the Orvar is with the big ships right now. She is a tugboat that indeed belongs to Viking and lends a helping hand pulling landing stages along the river. Not restricted to Viking work that needs doing. Spotted her in a couple of places over the last two years. notamermaid

Alternatively to my earlier suggestion you may want to use this: https://www.deutsche-leuchtfeuer.de/binnen/rhein/hochrhein.html notamermaid

For putting Niehl in context I have copied the distance bar at the bottom left: Google maps says it takes a good hour to walk from the dock to Cologne Cathedral. I have checked the forecast and it says the level at Cologne is now 802cm. The 830cm is less likely than was forecast a few hours ago, but the risk is still there. More likely is 810 to 820cm as the peak. notamermaid

Levels at Kaub and Koblenz really high, but Kaub looks to be staying okay. At Koblenz the risk of a river cruise ban is now low. The level should peak around 630cm, not getting to the threshold of 650cm. Fingers crossed. Level now is 621cm. Newspaper says that there is a risk of a river traffic ban at Cologne. notamermaid

Yes. If you want to go for the fine details, here is a pdf file. Note that this is big: http://www.kapitanskepatenty.cekuj.net/RHEINATLAS.PDF There are others out there I am sure. Quiet some time ago I read about something one can purchase as well. notamermaid

That is Niehl, I had posted a bit about the port. So the river bank in Cologne is not accessible right now. That is understandable, the river is very high in Cologne, the photo of Emmerich says it all. Thank you for posting that. Niehl right now: notamermaid

Advent, Advent, ein Lichtlein brennt, erst eins, dann zwei, dann drei, dann vier. Dann steht das Christkind vor der Tür. Frohe Weihnachten. Merry Christmas to you all. notamermaid

Yes, the middle of Germany has been hit hard, stretching into Lower Saxony and then towards the coast, i.e. the rivers draining the mountain ranges as well as the rain that fell in the coastal regions. The Danube has to take a lot of water but this time as you say the Main is getting a lot of work too. That volume of water contributes to the high levels we will see this time in the Middle Rhine valley, a couple of weeks ago the Main did not feed the Rhine with such high volumes. notamermaid

River traffic is flowing again already at Maxau, confirmed: https://www.swr.de/swraktuell/baden-wuerttemberg/karlsruhe/hochwasser-rhein-schifffahrt-karlsruhe-100.html The level will remain high and not fall below flood mark I (that is adjusted sailing speed and extra vigilance) for the rest of the year. Other sections of the Rhine are okay for sailing but are all high (already exceeding flood mark I, about to or getting close). There is a risk for a river traffic ban indicated in the Koblenz gauge. notamermaid

Advent, Advent, ein Lichtlein brennt, erst eins dann zwei, dann drei, dann vier. 🕯️ 🕯️🕯️ 🕯️ The special night has fallen over Germany. I have had a busy day and evening with fun and laughter with family over dinner. Before it is time for me to sleep let me tell you what happened to me yesterday. Another busy day of shopping and trying to get things done. On my way home I passed a church and I was in thought so did not see the woman approaching me. She stopped right in front of me and almost startled me when she asked me with a smile if I would like a five euro note. She gave me a rose and said note with a message attached that read that the family was giving ten random people unknown to them a five euro note for some happiness and sheer. I was so stunned I could only say yes and smile back. She said "Frohe Weihnachten" and drove off in her small van. I walked home rather perplexed. It was a day of strange happenings anyway and just before I met the woman, a lady in an esoteric gem stone shop said to me "the universe does not do things at random". We celebrate the birth of a special boy, a new life. With us this year there was a new little boy in the wider family. But closer to home and house new life has also come. My neighbour who sadly lost her two cats last year called me over in November to her flat: "come, come have a look, my new cat". There it was all black, tiny and full of curious energy for exploring life. Yesterday, on this weird day, for the first time she was out in the yard, doing what only black cats can do in the dark, that is frightening the humans, and chasing the leaves. I walked into my house with a smile and happiness I have not felt in a long time. Light for my soul. Hope you feel good on this fourth Sunday and whatever you are do, you are enjoying life and your heart feels light. notamermaid

Just to digress a little. Question about the Audi slogan. @Canal archive. Vorsprung durch Technik. You would need to put it in a translation program. I do not think there ever was a translation for marketing purposes. I would say it means freely "being ahead due to excellent technical performance". It is so iconic that it has a German Wikipedia page: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vorsprung_durch_Technik It has been around since 1971 and has made its way into the Anglophone everyday language sphere in the British Isles. Now that is what I call success. They tried to replace it once. Back to villages. I have several times driven through Pett Bottom in Kent. Benign fun. It is quite unbelievable in how many spots in England the world ends. I think there are about seven The Worlds End, from housing estate to village pub. Speaking of pub. "The World's End" is the name of the last visited pub in that British film. Not giving anything further away about the plot... notamermaid

I do not think there is for marketing purposes. notamermaid

Levels are rising everywhere, problematic are some smaller rivers in the hills. But also the Moselle is rising. River traffic ban confirmed: https://www.swr.de/swraktuell/rheinland-pfalz/hochwasser-rhein-lahn-sieg-pegel-steigende-wasserstaende-100.html Train travel is still a bit disrupted after the storm, but better. Elevated levels in the Netherlands. In other parts of Germany the situation is dramatic in a few places: You can see the Danube having to take on more water than the Upper Rhine. The Regen (the river to and in Regensburg) is very high. River traffic ban is anticipated not to last long at Maxau, should be over by tomorrow evening. notamermaid