Danube water levels 2024 and similar topics - plus tips and info

[DocHifi]

We are actually still in our hometown of Minneapolis Minnesota waiting to board a flight that has been delayed over 5 hours. So we are not even in Europe yet but we know for a fact that we will miss our connecting flight from Amsterdam to Munich and won't likely arrive in Munich until 3rd of June. We also just spoke with someone on the Jarl (our riverboat) and he said that they are currently docked in a small village in Austria and won't make it to Regenburg and are unlikely to make it to Passau. But they plan is to get to Krems perhaps on Wednesday but they simply cannot say at this point.

[steamboats]

25 minutes ago, DocHifi said:

We are actually still in our hometown of Minneapolis Minnesota waiting to board a flight that has been delayed over 5 hours. So we are not even in Europe yet but we know for a fact that we will miss our connecting flight from Amsterdam to Munich and won't likely arrive in Munich until 3rd of June.

 

At least there are lots of flights between Amsterdam and Munich - KLM and Lufthansa.

 

steamboats 

[Canal archive]

All fingers and toes crossed for you!

[DocHifi]

Thank you all

[steamboats]

A lot of ships have gathered in Linz. The Viking Jarl was last seen downriver below Engelhartszell still showing Regensburg as destination. But that signal is more than 30 hours ago.

 

Krems is closer to Vienna. So it would make more sense to fly to Vienna instead of Munich.

 

steamboats 

[Chewbecca]

On the Avalon View which has docked in Linz and we are told we are staying here now. We were due to be in Passau tomorrow (Monday) and disembarking in Vilshofen on Tuesday, flying from Munich. 

We'll be bussed to excursions / airport instead. Could be worse.

 

Hope the flood defences hold up well and the people living nearby are all ok. 

[steamboats]

I had checked Englhartszell and Lindau on Vesselfinder. Marinetraffic is more exact. In Lindau there´s the Viking Modi. The Viking Jarl is currently docked in Wesenufer / Austria together with the Viking Bragi and Egil. Wesenufer is a tiny village on the Danube river which basically a landing, a big hotel, two restaurants and a church plus a camp site and a couple of houses. It´s a bit downriver of Englhartszell. So Munich is the better option regarding an airport (or Salzburg).

 

This shows another problem with high/low water. There are so many ships out there that when all need to dock the space is getting rare. The ships have to dock at locations which are usually not used for river cruise ships but for local boats.

 

steamboats

[notamermaid]

4 hours ago, steamboats said:

First of all, Deggendorf is not really a tourist town. It´s mainly know for it´s location at the Autobahn and the huge BMW factory.

They upped their game a few years ago and appeared to be doing quite a bit for tourism when I was there. A nice old town with a bit of history. The surrounding hills not so attractive.

 

I tend to agree that being on land may cause more problems than being on a ship right now. Passau especially is not a good place to roam around the emergency services right now as they are putting up all the defences and sand bags. I also doubt that Deggendorf has room and facilities for a hundred extra people needing a bed. However, flooding at Deggendorf is a little different from Passau as the old town is away from the river, a bit higher up. I remember the slope down to the harbour. It should help the town.

 

Still, not comforting to @Yorkieboy1972. And I reckon emergency services would not be happy to have to take passengers of a ship in addition to their standard tasks in flooding, it is enough to handle life for the locals.

 

By the way, Deggendorf does have a tourist information (which is closed on Sundays). At this point in time it may be more important to know what the harbour is like: https://www.hafen-deggendorf.de/pegel/

Deggendorf is expecting level 4, the highest level for flooding.

 

notamermaid

 

 

[steamboats]

Although Deggendorf has a tourist information as I'd say all cities have it's not really a tourist hot spot.

 

Straubing has much more to offer and the ships don't even stop there.

 

It's basically all those small creeks and rivers which do cause severe floodings right now. Of course many of them do drain into the Danube river.

 

steamboats 

[notamermaid]

Yes.

1 hour ago, steamboats said:

This shows another problem with high/low water. There are so many ships out there that when all need to dock the space is getting rare. The ships have to dock at locations which are usually not used for river cruise ships but for local boats.

 

The problem in flooding (and low water) is where to dock all the ships. Parking a ship is a bit tricky with the limit allowed places there are, docking a passenger ship with safe access to land can be a real pain. Barges need to have spaces so they can keep to their rest breaks stipulated in the safety regulations. But right now the problem is that they all wait. Barges, tankers and all the river cruise ships together amounts to a lot.

 

For a ship going through the Canal with an itinerary downstream to Budapest it may be best to stop at Nuremberg right now. From what I see on marinetraffic the Avalon Impression has been docked at Kelheim since late last night. This is likely the furthest she will get:

 

To add further annoyance to all this, I read reports of an accident on the Main river. River traffic was halted yesterday due to oil leaking into the water. I have no time to follow this up.

 

Passau is on flood level 3 and the river is still rising albeit a bit more slowly this morning.

 

notamermaid

 

 

[brian1]

1 hour ago, notamermaid said:

They upped their game a few years ago and appeared to be doing quite a bit for tourism when I was there. A nice old town with a bit of history. The surrounding hills not so attractive.

 

I tend to agree that being on land may cause more problems than being on a ship right now. Passau especially is not a good place to roam around the emergency services right now as they are putting up all the defences and sand bags. I also doubt that Deggendorf has room and facilities for a hundred extra people needing a bed. However, flooding at Deggendorf is a little different from Passau as the old town is away from the river, a bit higher up. I remember the slope down to the harbour. It should help the town.

 

Still, not comforting to @Yorkieboy1972. And I reckon emergency services would not be happy to have to take passengers of a ship in addition to their standard tasks in flooding, it is enough to handle life for the locals.

 

By the way, Deggendorf does have a tourist information (which is closed on Sundays). At this point in time it may be more important to know what the harbour is like: https://www.hafen-deggendorf.de/pegel/

Deggendorf is expecting level 4, the highest level for flooding.

 

notamermaid

 

 

No worries TUI have said we are here for at least 3 days and have enough food and water for that.They do not class this as an emergency yet.After 3 days may be another story.

[Rebel54]

Sorry to hear about the water issues.  I was meant to be cruising right now so I can only imagine how frustrating that can be.  We got moved from May to August due to a boat being moved to another route.  Of course come August there could be the opposite issue. 😞  Safe travels all.

 

[Yorkieboy1972]

We seem to have some serious levels of denial from the crew on the Isla. They are claiming that the level will rise another 20cm and then start falling.

[notamermaid]

3 hours ago, brian1 said:

No worries TUI have said we are here for at least 3 days and have enough food and water for that.

Hmm, err, in inimitably British fashion "keep calm and carry on" then.

 

The Deggendorf authorities have a live feed running informing the locals of all measures, including safety road blocks including to the Danube harbour called "Freihafen".

 

1 hour ago, Yorkieboy1972 said:

We seem to have some serious levels of denial from the crew on the Isla. They are claiming that the level will rise another 20cm and then start falling.

The authorities expect flood level 4 with the 8.00 metres clearly spelt out in the live feed. It may not get this far but 20cm sounds very optimistic. Looks more like 40cm to 60cm to me:

 

Perhaps it is helpful.

 

notamermaid

 

[steamboats]

Just read the newspaper (online tomorrow's issue). In Passau they expect a high of 9 m and the flood is supposed to crest in Tuesday.

 

steamboats 

[DocHifi]

In Regensburg the area that is UNESCO sight is flooded and off limits

[notamermaid]

19 minutes ago, DocHifi said:

In Regensburg the area that is UNESCO sight is flooded and off limits

That is bad. They cleared out the famous sausage kitchen at the river I have read. The water is very close. In 2013 the building was partly submerged.

 

Straubing-Bogen area is in a state of emergency, so is Kehlheim.

 

Kehlheim gauge for context (it is just before the navigable river starts):

 

Of course, all that water goes to Passau. Korneuburg in Austria is on mild flooding and rain is forecast for the Vienna area.

 

notamermaid

 

 

 

 

[notamermaid]

Okay, the terrible flooding of 2013 has been mentioned and certainly springs to mind. The gauges map now:

 

And in 2013, same date, same hour:

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

11 hours ago, steamboats said:

Straubing has much more to offer and the ships don't even stop there.

I remember reading that Straubing built a new embarkation facility for river cruise a few years ago. Then drought showed that Vilshofen is a better place for that as it is beyond the shallow section. Straubing is one of those unfortunate "in-between" places, I have gathered, that do not fit well into itineraries between Regensburg and Passau. I think sailing logistics do not work out well enough. Happen to be proven wrong but as you say river cruise ships do not dock there. I will have a look if I can find the original article.

 

notamermaid

 

[RDVIK2016]

17 hours ago, steamboats said:

First of all, Deggendorf is not really a tourist town. It´s mainly know for it´s location at the Autobahn and the huge BMW factory.

 

Usually river cruise ships don´t stop there. Most of the area along the Danube river is industrial. There´s a small park with a pontoon landing which is for the local boats and not for river cruise ships. There´s a second smaller pontoon landing at the park but no street there either. The TUI Isla is docked at the pontoon landing right above the bridge. And walking a couple of meters downriver (o.k., not right now) there is a street (gravel) where a bus would be able to pick up passengers. The landing at the park is a pedestrian area only. A bus won´t be allowed to drive close to the ship. To sum it up... Deggendorf is not a regular stop for river cruise ship and therefore has no infrastructure (meaning a landing where buses can go). The area the TUI Isla is docked is as close as you can get to any kind of infrastructure.

 

steamboats

How about that landing at the end of Eginger Straße? Looking at aerial views it seems that might have access to infrastructure. Also there must be ability to get vehicles very close to a ship nearby at Deggenau, unless the floodwaters match the levels of 2013 or worse.   

 

Are you thinking of the BMW plants in Dingolfing? and the other one at Wallersdorf about half way between Dingolfing and Deggendorf?  When Hans Glas was building the Goggomobils and was bought by BMW the scale of today's factories could not be forseen.

 

RDVIK

[steamboats]

6 hours ago, RDVIK2016 said:

How about that landing at the end of Eginger Straße?

 

That´s the landing for the local excursion boats.

 

steamboats

[steamboats]

9 hours ago, DocHifi said:

In Regensburg the area that is UNESCO sight is flooded and off limits

 

No, it´s just the levee area not the historic downtown. Regensburg has mobile flood walls which have been installed. They also go around the Wurstkuchl. Anyway the Wurstkuchl and also the big building next to the bridge (Salzstadl) have emtied their basements and first floors - as well as all other buildings close to the river. All of the owners are used to floodings and are prepared for them. Usually the damage there and in Passau is minimal compared to the other areas which are currently flooded.

 

Here´s a photo in the local paper of Regensburg. You can see the flood walls, the Salzstadl and the Wurstkuchl.

 

steamboats

Edited June 3 by steamboats

[steamboats]

All river level upriver of Passau are already up to Level 4. Passau is rising and still on Level 3 but will reach Level 4 later today. The wave is already cresting in some areas.

 

As we didn´t have that much rain along the Isar river that one has crested and our flood level went down from 2 to 1.

 

steamboats

[brian1]

Just had news we are evacuating TUI Isla today by emergency ribs and being bussed to Munich airport.Out of sight out of mind,lol.

[Canal archive]

Ouch Brian 1 hope all goes well fingers double crossed.