Under torrential rain since Thursday and while meteorologists do not expect any improvement before the beginning of next week, the east of the country is preparing for flooding this weekend.
The flood had already begun, but the Alpenverein mountaineering association still thought it was worth pointing out on Friday 13 September, for the absent-minded, that “nobody[avait] nothing to do in the high mountains this weekend.” Given the almost fanatical ardor with which some Austrians devote themselves to hiking, the precision was perhaps not superfluous. This alert from the Alpenverein is one of dozens issued at the end of the week by all sorts of organizations in the country, from motoring associations to the Red Cross. Faced with exceptional bad weather with storm Boris, Austria is preparing to deal with its expected consequences this weekend: landslides, impassable roads and, above all, floods, particularly in the east of the country.
Yet on September 8, people were still swimming in lakes and swimming pools across the country at temperatures of almost 30°C, and by midweek, people still seemed to have trouble taking the first warnings seriously. Even a weatherman who was still smiling casually into the camera – “brrr… it’s starting to get chilly” – Thursday, when the atmospheric depression from the Adriatic was already reaching the country. His attitude made the star Swiss meteorologist Jörg Kachelmann roar: television was in danger of having “deaths on the conscience”he got carried away on the social network X.
Danube flood
As preparations intensified, the tone in the media gradually changed. As early as Wednesday, Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer spoke of a crisis meeting and the Defense Minister said that “up to a thousand soldiers” could be deployed to support the fire brigade. On Friday, the railway company ÖBB announced the precautionary closure of certain sections for the weekend and advised travellers throughout the country to avoid their journeys if possible. In the nine hydroelectric power stations of the Verbund network, which are usually fully automated and remotely controlled, preparations were being made to switch to manual mode. Some 350 employees are to take turns throughout the weekend, to possibly open the floodgates in the face of rising water levels.
Because experts expect the rain to continue to fall in torrents until Tuesday, causing the Danube to flood to levels not seen in thirty years – according to forecasts this Saturday morning. Will the 2002 disaster, when floods caused nine deaths and €3 billion in damage in Austria, happen again?
“In the city centre, the water reached the first floor of the houses,” recalls the mayor of Emmersdorf-on-the-Donau, a small town in the Wachau wine region. Reached by Release Friday evening, Richard Hochratner was preparing to activate a flood protection system that has since been set up in his town. This emergency system – a reinforced concrete wall on the banks that can be raised, if necessary, to reach a height of up to 4 metres – has cost taxpayers 22 million euros, the councillor said, to which is added 20,000 to 50,000 euros each time he decides to deploy it.
Many neighbouring towns in the Wachau are taking refuge behind similar systems this weekend. Further east, the capital seems safe from flooding. Vienna has in fact carried out colossal work to regulate the Danube since the 1970s and 1980s to protect itself from flooding. The municipality is nevertheless calling on residents to limit their outings, because the rain is compounded by dangerous gusts of wind.
Temperature drop
Authorities fear more severe flooding along some of the less regulated Danube tributaries, especially in Lower Austria. In this region bordering Vienna, precipitation could reach 200 or even 300 litres per m² and the wind could blow with a force “close to hurricane”announced an official on Friday at the end of a crisis meeting. On Saturday morning, all eyes were on the Kamp River, where civil protection had dispatched two emergency convoys to protect a power station and possibly carry out evacuations.
The precipitation is accompanied by a drop in temperature and, in the Noric Alps, in the centre of the country, snow could reach 800 metres this weekend. The Grossglockner Pass and the Sölkpass are closed as a precaution; snow tyres and chains are occasionally required. Whether it is luck or climatic irony, the snow is good news for valleys threatened by flooding, as water in solid form is retained in the mountains instead of flowing down the slopes towards areas already drowned by downpours.
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