Tag: donau

Flood Update or Batten 2: Keep on Battenin’

For everyone asking about us: we’re fine. Our apartment has a couple inches of standing water in the basement that they pumped out and it seems to have returned. This isn’t actually that big a deal in the short term, as we don’t use our basement for anything. Other than that, the biggest impact of the flooding on our daily lives is on transportation. Bus service is disrupted at our nearest bus stops and roads that we most frequently use are closed. So far, we’re doing pretty well.

That said, four more days of rain are in the forecast. So things might still get hairy. The flood waters are receding very slowly, so more rain might do a lot of damage.

Update: the state of emergency has been lifted for our area and the waters are still dropping. I’ve added some photos I took yesterday.

Nice night for it

I met up with some local friends for dinner last night and almost didn’t grab the camera on my way out the door. I’m glad I did. I’m also glad I took an unusual (for me) route to the restaurant, heading west on our island first and then crossing the Danube on the Eiserne Steg instead of taking the Steinerne Brücke across the Danube first and then walking the city streets to the restaurant.

I came back a slightly different route, past one of our favorite Biergärten (for the setting, but not the service) and the scene struck me as a little sad, like everyone’s just in a holding pattern until it’s time to break out the Glühwein and tolerate being active outside again.

three guilty pleasures

Two of which are meat-related.

One of which are rhythm-less feet with a heavy conscience.

Let’s start with that one. Sarah was placing a catalog order this evening and got a Wham! song as her hold music. Which reminded me of this:

Meat Point #1:

We bought a KitchenAid mixer a while back and have been experimenting in the meat grinding arena.

Weber baby q100That was great and all, but we really needed a way to grill our ground meat creations. Pan-frying wasn’t cutting it. We bought a small portable gas grill. We tried it out today on one of our town’s several islands in the Danube with great success. There were lots of people out enjoying the weather and grilling their dinner along with plenty of dogs pleased by all the resulting smells. Which brings me to…

Meat Point #2

Thanks Aunt Julie for sending this video our way. We’ve been watching it (and emulating it) for days now and it hasn’t gotten old yet.

Six Meters and Falling*

view from the Steinerne Brücke North -- P1151436We’ve seen some high water around here, but never like this. The last time it got this high was in 1988.

SDC10363

Rettungsdienst Swimmers - PC181339Rettungsdienst Swimmers - PC181343

Here’s what it looked like about a week ago. This is high; normally the lower pylon platform is exposed, such that the Rettungsdienst swimmer dudes can set up their annual Weihnachtsbaum on it. But it’s not really unusual for it to be that high.

P1151443High is when the upper level of the pylon is nearly submerged.

P1151433Practically overnight temporary barriers popped up all over the place. I guess they work; look at the foot traffic just on the other side of them. These people are not walking on the path: they’re walking through the bushes alongside the path. The path is on the otherside of the wall from them.

For comparison’s sake:

Before This Week
Sorat Hotel view November 2009 Sorat Hotel on Friday
Jahninsel in November 2009. Whatinsel?
Mild flooding Anything but
South Bank path Wait, there’s supposed to be a path there?


Here’s the slideshow, with more images.

*But six meters above what? Measured from where? I haven’t been able to find this crucial piece of information yet. Apparently it crested last night around 18:00 at 6.27m. Whoever made the 6.30m prediction is kicking himself for sure.