Danube River Cruise #50: Arrival in Passau, Germany - Flooding History

Driving into Passau, looking at a Flooded Danube River

In this final set of blogs about our Danube River cruise from Hungary to Germany. In this blog, we'll tell you about the city of Passau, Germany and its many floods. In fact, as we drove over the bridge to this city on a peninsula, some of the river walks were flooded! So, swim into the blog with us>>>>

River Height Marks

PASSAU, GERMANY - "3 RIVERS" - Passau is a German city on the Austrian border. It's located at the confluence of the Danube, Inn and Ilz rivers. Because of that, it's known as the Three Rivers City. The old town is known for its baroque architecture, including St. Stephen's Cathedral, featuring distinctive onion-domed towers and an organ with 17,974 pipes.
It has a population of around 50,000 people, of whom about 10,000 are students.
 

Tom took this pic of the river

FLOODING IS COMMON, MARKERS ABOUND - When we visited in May 2019, the Danube River was flooded from long periods of heavy rainfall. We learned that it's a common occurrence in the city, because there are three rivers that run around it. In fact, there are several buildings that have flood markers on them that give the years with a tick mark that show how high the flooding reached. Many of the floods were well over anyone's head.
     

Another flooded river view from Tom

WHY DOES IT FLOOD? -  Seasonal rains cause regular floods during autumn and winter. The northern tributaries of the Danube from the plains and low mountain ranges carry increased water volumes and cause floods in Passau. During summer the southern tributaries of the Danube cause regular floods due to the alpine thaw. These regular high water levels are predictable and don’t normally cause much damage. Disastrous floods like the ones in 2002 and 2013 occur when both components work together: heavy rain in addition to the alpine thaw.

Passau, June 2013. AP Photo/dpa,Peter Kneffel

RECORD FLOOD YEARS -  The year 1954 saw the 2nd worst flooding when the Danube reached its highest level ever recorded of 12.2m, the Inn 10.10m and the Ilz 12.15m
  The year 2013 brought the worst flood, where the historic center of Passau, where the Danube, Inn and Ilz converge, was underwater on 1 June.  In Passau the water levels reached 12.85 m (42.2 ft), overflowing the highest recorded historic flood leve 




NEXT:  WHAT IS THE VESTE OBERHAUS?
THEN: St. Stephen's Church has a Big Organ!