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

[notamermaid]

Please note that in the information service above as of now the situation in the border section with Slovakia is described as critical. The wave will hit the Danube there hard as well of course and Budapest is expecting second level flooding on Tuesday. It is not looking good for upstream sailings from Budapest at all.

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

Passau is at 708cm. The level could get close to 800cm tomorrow, which means that a river traffic ban is possible.

 

notamermaid

 

[moonriver54]

For the sake of comparison, I gathered the data on water levels at Passau last November/December 2023 during the flooding that occurred then.

 

[notamermaid]

@moonriver54 Good, easy graph. Which website is that?

 

From the Austrian information service: navigation is now prohibited from Abwinden Lock to Slovakia, including the border section between the countries.

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

To illustrate the unusual weather situation, here is the complete map of the German information service. No problems where it is green:

 

notamermaid

 

[Daisi]

Just hearing from someone on the Avalon Envision - Budapest to Amsterdam. They say they are in Vienna, and have been told that water levels are to high and they may have to either go by bus or fly home. They still have a few days to decide, so not cutting it yet. They also say there is snow at some of the upcoming destinations, which won't help. 

 

 

[notamermaid]

41 minutes ago, Daisi said:

They also say there is snow at some of the upcoming destinations, which won't help. 

 

It is not just raining but also still too cold for September, even here in my mild valley. Night temperature went down to single digits. While there is as fa as I know no snow in the Danube valley, high hills are close to that or have seen snow. Currently I can only see it close to the Alps and in the mountains of Austria, potentially also Salzburg. A few roads for excursions could be tricky. There have been warnings.

 

The wave of water is now fully in Vienna. Korneuburg gauge is well over the marker for permitted river traffic (and as we have read the section of Danube is closed).

 

As all levels including Pfelling are still rising, it will take some time for the water to clear Austria. This is not "we have had some rain, will be over in 48 hours" situation.

 

I am sorry this is happening, kind of feels like "here we go again". It was only just over three months ago that the river was partially closed in Austria. And we had all that flooding at the end of December.

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

Vienna city council weather warning, advice: https://www.wien.gv.at/english/living-working/severe-weather-warning.html

 

River level peak at Vienna looks to be forecast for Sunday into Monday (that is between 11pm and 3am about).

 

notamermaid

 

[lmintzer]

I am currently on a Tauck river boat docked in Budapest. Cruise started yesterday afternoon, and today was our first day of touring in Budapest. We were supposed to set sail for Bratislava tomorrow afternoon. We were informed today about the high water level issues, and we will be briefed tomorrow morning at 9 with plans. I see packing and buses in our future! People on board are quite disappointed. We were feeling settled and comfortable.

[moonriver54]

2 hours ago, notamermaid said:

@moonriver54 Good, easy graph. Which website is that?

 

From the Austrian information service: navigation is now prohibited from Abwinden Lock to Slovakia, including the border section between the countries.

 

notamermaid

 

I apologize...I missed your question earlier today!  The Passau water level chart is from the DanubeHIS web site: https://www.danubehis.org/results/DE10091008_HYDRO?symbol[h]=h

 

If you scroll down you'll see the current water level chart.  It appears they're updating measurements every 15 minutes...for good reason!

Edited Saturday at 10:02 PM by moonriver54

[notamermaid]

7 minutes ago, lmintzer said:

People on board are quite disappointed. We were feeling settled and comfortable.

Such a pity. It does not look like you will be sailing upstream any time soon. I am sure the Tauck team will come up with a great plan but there is certainly not much they can do at this stage. I doubt that sailing downstream is a viable option...

 

Thank you for saying hello and do post us what Tauck is planning for you. We do not hear much about the company here how they react to unusual situations.

 

notamermaid

 

 

[RDVIK2016]

1 hour ago, lmintzer said:

I am currently on a Tauck river boat docked in Budapest. Cruise started yesterday afternoon, and today was our first day of touring in Budapest. We were supposed to set sail for Bratislava tomorrow afternoon. We were informed today about the high water level issues, and we will be briefed tomorrow morning at 9 with plans. I see packing and buses in our future! People on board are quite disappointed. We were feeling settled and comfortable.

 

9 hours ago, notamermaid said:

Please note that in the information service above as of now the situation in the border section with Slovakia is described as critical. The wave will hit the Danube there hard as well of course and Budapest is expecting second level flooding on Tuesday. It is not looking good for upstream sailings from Budapest at all.

 

notamermaid

 

All of Bohemia drains to the Elbe (Czech Labe) and all of Moravia goes to the Danube (the Bohemia-Moravia border is roughly the black line I drew on the map) This is as of midnight Sat into Sun. However the Moravian water mostly does not reach the Danube until just above Bratislava by way of the Morava (German March) river which marks the border between Moravia and Slovakia.  From this Czech hydrological chart it looks like the Morava will be dumping a LOT of water to the Danube.  Then between Bratislava and Budapest the Vah (German Waag) river drains all of western Slovakia in to the Danube - but it appears that the further east you go in Slovakia the less rain is falling.

 

Note: For orientation purposes Řezno is Regensburg and Drážďany is Dresden

[RDVIK2016]

6 hours ago, notamermaid said:

It is not just raining but also still too cold for September, even here in my mild valley. Night temperature went down to single digits. While there is as fa as I know no snow in the Danube valley, high hills are close to that or have seen snow. Currently I can only see it close to the Alps and in the mountains of Austria, potentially also Salzburg. A few roads for excursions could be tricky. There have been warnings.

 

The wave of water is now fully in Vienna. Korneuburg gauge is well over the marker for permitted river traffic (and as we have read the section of Danube is closed).

 

As all levels including Pfelling are still rising, it will take some time for the water to clear Austria. This is not "we have had some rain, will be over in 48 hours" situation.

 

I am sorry this is happening, kind of feels like "here we go again". It was only just over three months ago that the river was partially closed in Austria. And we had all that flooding at the end of December.

 

notamermaid

 

There was a little snow on the highest mountains of the Bavarian Forest and the Šumava in the Czech Republic. 

 

The English language "Prague Morning" reported that "snow covered Velký Javor, the highest peak in the Šumava National Park, which stands at 1,300 meters above sea level."  That is a bit inaccurate in that Velký Javor is the Czech name for the Großer Arber, the tallest mountain in the Bavarian Forest across the border from the Šumava National Park.  After WWII the Czechs kicked all the ethnic Germans out of the Šumava and other border regions, but until now I never saw them claim any German territory. 

 

Edited to add: Fellow Americans, 12.09.2024 is the 12th of Sept, not the 9th of December!

 

RDVIK

 

Edited Sunday at 03:47 AM by RDVIK2016
added clarification of date in photo.

[steamboats]

@notamermaid single digits during the night... we have them during the day too!! My daughter just returned to Wiesbaden yesterday and said it´s 10 degrees (C) warmer there. We had rain all day yesterday with a max of 8°C. Today so far it´s dry and currently 7°C. Thought about turning the heat on.

 

steamboats

[notamermaid]

That is cold. Yes, a weather divide with a line that runs somewhere from the Alps, just missing Augsburg and Regensburg and then crossing into the Czech Republic. We have had rain and cold wind, but the real Arctic effect runs Southeast of the line I have just described, brutally running East and Northeast to the North. And I think it reflects well in the map that @RDVIK2016 posted.

 

4 hours ago, steamboats said:

Thought about turning the heat on.

I cooked a chicken pie in the oven. The next day a cake, then another long oven dish. While I got the kitchen warm, the rest of the flat got uncomfortably cool, so I gave up and put the heating on on Friday evening. Not much, but I felt better for it.

 

It is brightening up here, I can feel the change and that change in weather will come to you Tuesday I think. Not long to go for your area till it can recover. But, of course, draining the tributaries of the Danube will take time. Especially in the harder hit Slovakia.

 

I also read of inundations in Romania. @Izengolf, things okay with you?

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

I see that it is still raining over Passau and the border regions in Austria (radar image cuts off there with the DWD website). Still a lot of rain also over the Vltava and Elbe, going up and East towards the Oder and Poland. Passau gauge is now on 750cm, flood warning level 2. Rise is now slow and the 780cm which ends river traffic may just be avoided today. Not clear yet. Pfelling is at 494cm and rising further. But that section of river should stay manageable. Problem is the railway bridge at Bogen near Schwabelweis (Regensburg area). The rise at Pfelling will show at Passau naturally, but we cannot say yet how much. River traffic is now suspended in Austria completely (apart from a short section at Engelhartszell and the border Danube with Germany). The authorities give no indication yet when any river traffic can resume.

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

The forecast for Budapest:

 

notamermaid

 

[dawntrdr]

Currently on Tauck MS Savor in Budapest.   Our news as of 9 am local time:   We were supposed to sail to Bratislava tonight but instead we will be going 2 miles downstream and staying overnight.  Tomorrow,  we vacate the boat at 8:30 am and are bussed to Bratislava instead.  We do our tours and then bus to Vienna where we will stay on land.  Whether the boat will catch up to us by then, we wait and see.  Tauck is handling everything very professionally. 

 

 

 

 

 

[Izengolf]

47 minutes ago, notamermaid said:

 

I also read of inundations in Romania. @Izengolf, things okay with you?

Actually, I do not like to say this given others are struggling due to the rain, but we live in a low mountain area with long droughts every summer. Storms race northeast across the Hungarian plains, cross the border, slam into the Seș mountains and ... stop. The rain that started here Friday was desperately needed. The grass is greening again and the grazing animals have something to eat. People's wells will come back to life. I have been reading these posts and thinking how the same weather system is a blessing or a curse depending on where you are!

 

Romanians over by the Black Sea / Danube Delta are having bad floods but this should not affect river cruises going to Giurgiu, it is much farther north towards the Ukrainian border.

 

PS We did break down and have a short fire last night.

[moonriver54]

My wife and I were discussing all the rainfall feeding the Danube last night while trying to look at the bright side, despite all the river cruise interruptions.  Imagine if the Danube had already been at much higher water levels when this current deluge began.  That could've spelled a real flooding disaster in many locations.  And as Izengolf mentions above, this rainfall has been helpful to the drought-stricken regions.  So maybe a blessing in that regard...

[steamboats]

Just received a warning for more rain to come later in the evening until tomorrow noon.

 

steamboats

[notamermaid]

6 hours ago, Izengolf said:

The rain that started here Friday was desperately needed.

Good to read that it has helped some people. I admit that the rain was not unwelcome here. A bit too cold so some plant species have suffered but the rain has not caused any real concern. Just some harvests will not be as good as they could be. Commercially speaking for the Rhine river the water has been good as Kaub gauge returned over 150cm. It makes the logistics industry happy. We still have frustratingly enough room in the river to take some away from the Elbe and the Danube. If anyone has got a crackpot idea that actually works to get some water into the Rhine basin or at least to the Upper Upper Danube at Beuron I would be happy to hear it. My idea of forcing travellers heading West to take a litre of water in a bottle out of the Danube and pour it out beyond the water shed is not an option...

 

Schwabelweiß (Regensburg) gauge is lower than its forecast suggested this morning so that is good. 380cm is well below official flooding, highest level permitted for river traffic is 520cm, so doing comparatively well.

 

Korneuburg near Vienna is above its forecast issued at lunchtime, so not doing well.758cm. Looks like we will see the river closed for longer. The next forecast will be issued soon.

 

News says that much of Hungary did not see heavy rain, but the Danube and the tributaries further West, that is Austria and Slovakia as we know, will bring flooding to Budapest. The authorities have issued the highest warning level. The streets along the river bank will be closed. Margaret Island may be closed for cars and pedestrians. My info is from a different article in German. You can read some English news here: https://www.budapesttimes.hu/hungary/third-degree-flood-alert-issued-for-budapest/

 

The border section up to Linz and the Traun river in Austria are open again. All other sections (not all copied here) are closed still:

 

But perhaps your captain will have some good news for you later depending on where you are docked now.

 

notamermaid

 

 

[notamermaid]

5 hours ago, steamboats said:

Just received a warning for more rain to come later in the evening until tomorrow noon.

 

steamboats

Sorry to read that. I hope it will be the only day of rain next week. We are sending drier weather from here. It was milder and sunny here during the day.

 

The map, unfortunately also more water in the hills and mountains:

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

7 hours ago, dawntrdr said:

Tauck is handling everything very professionally. 

Yes it sounds good. I guess they need to be out of the city due to the flooding of the river banks? Or there are just too many ships in the centre.

 

Hope you have a good day tomorrow under the circumstances and the hotels will be comfortable.

 

notamermaid

 

[steamboats]

My friends have arrived in Budapest and been on a tour this afternoon. They have to leave the city as due to the current situation the authorities are closing both river banks by tomorrow morning.

 

steamboats