News Poland Flooding: Crisis Situation Worsening

[Borek]

It doesn't look good.

http://wiadomosci.onet.pl/cynk/984,1,1,zdjecie.html

It is raining all the time, southern Poland is flooded in many places, schools are getting closed - and it is going to rain in the next days as well. Where I live it is safe now, but in a few days the wave will come to Warsaw and even if we are about 8 km from the Wisła river we are living on the flat area, which is not elevated. Levee on our bank was enforced two years ago, that's a plus.

Edit: yellow is a high water, orange - above warning level, red - above alarm level.

http://www.pogodynka.pl/hydro.php

 

[fuzzyfelt]

That does look bad. I hope the rain stops and the levees hold for you.
It could be me, but the second link isn't working.

 

[Borek]

Checked it again and it works here, could be the server is swamped. I can post just the screen shot, but the report is generated several times a day, so it will soon became outdated.

 

[Borek]

It is not raining here at the moment (even sidewalks are dry), but my internet became so erratic it takes several minutes to refresh PF pages. I wonder if it doesn't mean wet cables somewhere (cables? in 21st century? what am I talking about?).

And I wonder if I will be able to post...

 

[Astronuc]

It doesn't look good.

http://wiadomosci.onet.pl/cynk/984,1,1,zdjecie.html

It is raining all the time, southern Poland is flooded in many places, schools are getting closed - and it is going to rain in the next days as well. Where I live it is safe now, but in a few days the wave will come to Warsaw and even if we are about 8 km from the Wisła river we are living on the flat area, which is not elevated. Levee on our bank was enforced two years ago, that's a plus.

Edit: yellow is a high water, orange - above warning level, red - above alarm level.

http://www.pogodynka.pl/hydro.php

I hope you remain dry/unflooded there. Perhaps one can move valuables and irreplaceable items to the attic or someplace high - just in case.

Such flooding seems to be all too common these days.

 

[lisab]

Oh no, that's terrible...can you move valuables up to your second floor, just in case?

 

[turbo]

Good luck, Borek.

It seems counter-intuitive, but if you haven't already done so, fill every available container with clean drinking water. Floods not only can take out power to water plants, but can overrun them so that water has to be boiled to make it safe for drinking. For those with electric stoves, that's a double-whammy.

PS, the links work for me, but the image server in the first link is VERY slow, so I didn't have the patience to get past 9 pix.

 

[TheStatutoryApe]

I am glad that the rain has stopped for now. Be safe Borek.

 

[Andre]

Wow Did they really changed the map as found here? Putting Poland on the wettest spot of Europe?

All the best, Borek.

And as Turbo and others noted, it could be helpful to have some first priorities secured, including a some sort of outdoors/camping gas tank with cooking possibilites

 

[Borek]

Just to clarify: I am at least two-three days from the culmination wave, so there is plenty of time to prepare, and chances that we will get flooded are very tiny at the moment. So far I am more concerned with the situation in Poland in general then with my own safety. It may change, and I am far from ignoring the risk, but as of today I plan to watch TV drinking beer (or browsing PF, seems like my uplink problems were temporary).

There is really not much I can do (apart from driving my car to the parking place near Junior, he leaves much higher, and moving some of the things to the attic) and what I can I will do in 3 to 4 hours. No need to worry now, it makes you look ugly and live shorter.

 

[wolram]

Good luck Borek, i hope things will get better.

 

[Evo]

Glad to know you and your family are safe.

 

[EnumaElish]

It seems counter-intuitive, but if you haven't already done so, fill every available container with clean drinking water.

Or with other potable liquids. Wait...

as of today I plan to watch TV drinking beer

Oh, you didn't need any advice :)

 

[turbo]

Or with other potable liquids. Wait...Oh, you didn't need any advice :)

He'll need a cooler and bags of ice to chill the beer if the flood knocks out the power. Be prepared!

 

[waht]

Hopefully damage will be minimal, and people are safe.

There was a huge flood in Tennessee couple of weeks ago.

http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2010/05/flooding_in_tennessee.html

 

[Borek]

In some cities in southern Poland water either broke levees or flooded over (Kraków, Sandomierz, Tarnobrzeg). Thousands of people relocated, houses, bridges, roads and crops damaged, everything you can expect. Water is flowing in our direction, but it is still not high in Warsaw.

 

[IcedEcliptic]

Oh, that is terrible. I'm glad you're safe, but I am sorry for your countrymen who suffer.

 

[Borek]

High water coming to Warsaw. It stopped to rain and latest forecasts say wave should be lower then previously expected. Judging from the maps published by Warsaw City Hall, we are well outside the zone that can be flooded, assuming forecasts are correct.

Levee on our bank was enforced in the last years, so it shouldn't breach, as it happened in other cities. As of today (our) situation looks much better than two days ago.

 

[turbo]

Glad to hear that Borek. Levees are a double-edged sword. Once they are over-topped and flooding occurs, they hold the water on the flood-plain and don't let it run off to the river.

 

[Borek]

Argh, I have just realized nursing home where my Mom is is in a very very bad place - close to Wisła, about 600 meters from the levee, and below Warsaw - that means lower levee than those guarding Warsaw I was calm up to now.

 

[turbo]

Argh, I have just realized nursing home where my Mom is is in a very very bad place - close to Wisła, about 600 meters from the levee, and below Warsaw - that means lower levee than those guarding Warsaw I was calm up to now.

Hopefully, such institutions are required to have evacuation plans (fingers crossed!).

 

[IcedEcliptic]

Argh, I have just realized nursing home where my Mom is is in a very very bad place - close to Wisła, about 600 meters from the levee, and below Warsaw - that means lower levee than those guarding Warsaw I was calm up to now.

My prayers go out to you and she, but can you take her to a safer location? For your peace of mind if nothing else.

 

[Borek]

She is lying and not able to move, so that means organizing another place in another nursing house and organizing medical transport. Doable, but not necessarily better.

So far water is high but no messages about any risks. Some other places were evacuated. Water is already very high and shouldn't be much higher. Problem is, this high water will be here for several days, unusually long. Depending on the situation we may drive close to Wisła later today to take some pictures.

 

[Borek]

Water is still high, today it breached levee about 100 km from here and flooded 100 square kilometers (near Zastów Polanowski, 51°17'15.29"N 21°52'29.62"E). Level of water was already going down, but levees are wet and soft, so they can fail any time. That's the main risk for Warsaw and surrounding areas, water was not high enough to flood over and it won't get higher.

I took some pictures today, but luckily there are no places close from here where one can take really dramatic pictures, and in most places it looks like picnic - people come to take pictures, show high water to their kids and so on. I have heard someone speaking on the phone about "flood tourism".

 

[drizzle]

Have you considered to move on to aother place?

 

[turbo]

Have you considered to move on to aother place?

There is a house just down the road from us with 22 acres that is going to be put on the market. (hint) This is a high hill and will never get flooded unless the Kennebec River manages to go 300 ft over flood stage. ;-)

 

[Evo]

Great pictures, but a bad situation.

 

[waht]

I heard on the news that 9 people died because of the floods.

 

[Marzena]

There is a house ;-)

Do you need the Polish speech therapist in Maine?

 

[Borek]

I heard on the news that 9 people died because of the floods.

From what I understand that's count of the bodies found. As large areas are still under water, including hundreds of houses, this number can change.

 

[turbo]

Do you need the Polish speech therapist in Maine?

Need? Or want? If you can learn English speedily, you can find work. My cousin's daughter is a speech therapist and she works a circuit of school districts helping kids.

I'd love to buy that place, split off the land, and re-sell the house with a small lot. There is plenty of large timber on that property that could pay off well. One little detail - there is an intervening lot between mine and that one, and I'd have to buy that too, in order to have access to remove the logs. Another neighbor is sizing up the property for the same reason, but he's not liquid enough to pull it off without a bank loan.

 

[Borek]

If there is no Eurosport, I am not moving.

 

[turbo]

If there is no Eurosport, I am not moving.

You might enjoy the transition to hunting and fishing. It can be fun, and you get fresh protein.

 

[IcedEcliptic]

Water is still high, today it breached levee about 100 km from here and flooded 100 square kilometers (near Zastów Polanowski, 51°17'15.29"N 21°52'29.62"E). Level of water was already going down, but levees are wet and soft, so they can fail any time. That's the main risk for Warsaw and surrounding areas, water was not high enough to flood over and it won't get higher.

I took some pictures today, but luckily there are no places close from here where one can take really dramatic pictures, and in most places it looks like picnic - people come to take pictures, show high water to their kids and so on. I have heard someone speaking on the phone about "flood tourism".

<snip>

Wow. I'm glad that the water is not rising anymore, and let's just hope and pray that nothing fails. May I just say how lovely the sky and clouds are in the third picture!

 

[OmCheeto]

I took some pictures today, but luckily there are no places close from here where one can take really dramatic pictures, and in most places it looks like picnic - people come to take pictures, show high water to their kids and so on. I have heard someone speaking on the phone about "flood tourism".

Guilty...

We had a flood here in 1996.

I went to look. Camera was broke so no pictures.

40 foot Willamette falls turned into a 2 foot water-um-where-are-the-falls?.

[PLAIN]http://www.co.clackamas.or.us/citizennews/06_01/images/06.jpg

Wish I'd had a bigger boat. There were lots of treasures floating away that week: Free hot tub!, Free firewood! Free houseboat!, Free cow!



Stay safe Borek i Marzena!

 

[IcedEcliptic]

Free cow! I shouldn't laugh, but thanks for some good humor in a bad situation. :)

Amazing picture.

 

[Borek]

Water still high in Warsaw, and it raises up in northern Poland, but definitely lower around Kraków. Many leaks, but these are taken care off as needed, luckily no new breaches apart from those two large ones I have mentioned earlier. Up to now 15 known casualties.

I am writing mostly about things that happen around Wisła, while second largest river in Poland - Odra - is high as well and it flooded cities. From the media reports I have a feeling situation there looks a little bit better. These areas were heavily destroyed in 1997, at the time Wisła, especially in its lower part, was relatively low.

According to this map:

http://pl.wikipedia.org/w/index.php...a_flood_area.jpg&filetimestamp=20100523062526

place where I live (upper right, at the lower end of the red line) can be flooded even by so called twenty-years water (not sure how it should be properly called in English, what I mean is level of water that happens on average once in every 20 years). Dashed area is 20-years water, light green - 100-years water, magenta - 1000-years water. Water level this year is somewhere between 100/1000. I wasn't aware I live THAT low

 

[turbo]

You got it pretty close, Borek. Here, flood stages are labeled by interval. In 1987, the Kennebec river (with the help of some swollen tributaries) reached levels that the public-safety authorities called a 500-year flood. It took out an iron railroad trestle that had stood for probably 150 years or more, took out highway bridges and some dams. Quite devastating. It happened on April Fool's day, after some torrential rains in the western mountains melted much of the snow-pack, sending the Sandy River, and the Carrabassett over their banks, and south of where they join the Kennebec, the small hydro impoundments were quickly over-filled. Most of the Weston Dam in Skowhegan was under water.

 

[Borek]

Water is still not low here and some places are still under water - and it is raining again. They predict flood wave will be about 1m lower than two weeks ago; that's still way too high

 

[turbo]

Water is still not low here and some places are still under water - and it is raining again. They predict flood wave will be about 1m lower than two weeks ago; that's still way too high

Probably very bad news for farmers with bottom-land. Their planting season will be pushed back another month or so, and the loss of crops will result in higher food prices. Good luck with the water, though it appears that Poland is fresh out of luck right now.

 

[Borek]

Parts of city of Sandomierz are evacuated again.

 

[Borek]

City of Jasło under water, water in Warsaw already going up, about 50 cm since the morning. But it is still below warning level here.

 

[OmCheeto]

City of Jasło under water, water in Warsaw already going up, about 50 cm since the morning. But it is still below warning level here.

I was just thinking of you a moment ago, and here you are. Google Earth shows the sky is clear over Poland.

Any indication when the water is to go down?

 

[Borek]

This wave is expected to be shorter and definitely lower, still high enough to be dangerous, especially as levees are still soaked and - in the places where they were broken - they were not rebuild yet. Highest water in Warsaw is expected somewhere around Wednesday.

 

[SonjaJeane]

Borek, I am curious about Jaslo specifically, as I have relatives there and in a neighboring village - Jablonica. I am wondering how I would help - what to send

 

[Borek]

Hard to tell if you don't know their exact situation. From what I hear food and water are no problem, there is enough help being sent into the area by gov and charities. Note that things you may send can be able to reach addressee - not only post doesn't work there, but some people are relocated, so they will have to be found first. Try to contact them first.

You may also send money to - for example - Polish Caritas (http://www.caritas.pl/), that will help not just your family, but all victims. Unfortunately their page is in Polish only, but I can translate important parts if you need assistance.

 

[Borek]

Water in Wisła river (Vistula) in Warsaw goes up all the time, city of Sandomierz is again under water, many smaller places are flooded either for the first time or for the second time.

However, few hours ago I have learned that at the moment it is not Wisła that we should be afraid of, but out own ditch, less than 100 meters from here. If you have seen my place at Google Earth ditch is just north to the residential district we live in. Water in the ditch is well above the ground level, that is probably effect of two large thunderstorms from the last week.

We live in the white houses on the left, somewhere behind the trees.

So far so good, water in the ditch goes down, the weakest points are on the other side - and there are less houses there, so in case anything happens loses should be smaller. But let's hope nothing happens.

5 km from here ditch enters Kanał Żerański (Żerański Channel):

Water flows only in one direction, as on the other end it is blocked by closed lock, channel is usually over the Wisła level.

 

[OmCheeto]

We have some of our best people working your situation:

Red neck solution to flooding problem.

Stay high and dry!

 

[Borek]

Contrary to initial predictions water in some places is higher than in May. Levees broke in several new places. Highest water expected in Warsaw tomorrow. I haven't seen our ditch yet, but there is no water in my backyard yet, so it probably holds.

Yesterday Marzena told me she is decided to not wash the floor in the kitchen - she will wait for water from the outside

 

[Borek]

Just checked - water in the ditch is at least a meter lower than yesterday. Still relatively high, but not as bad. Wisła is raising all the time, it is already above alarm level in Warsaw, highest level expected tomorrow night. As if it was not enough, it may rain again - forecasts say about "possible thunderstorms".