Day 200: The Elbe overflows

I’m really sorry – I’ve been incredibly busy and haven’t written anything for two weeks. Well, in fact, I have kept writing regularly, but I didn’t like what I wrote and it’s still under revision. I was planning to publish it all together this weekend. I don’t know if I’ll manage, but sooner or later I will.

I’ve just read in El Mundo about the flooding in the city. Here it’s called Hochwasser, which means “high water”. The river has risen by 4 metres and today it reached 7.40 m (the record was set in 2002, when it reached around 10 metres). It really is incredible. All the streets near the river are full of water and many houses had to be evacuated, even the entire neighbourhood of Gohlis.

I’m lucky because my flat is on a little hill, and the river would have to rise an awful lot to get here. Still, on Thursday I helped a friend move all the things he had in his storage room, which was in a basement, up to his room on the second floor. The whole city is mobilised and tomorrow the river is expected to reach its highest level.

Yesterday was complete chaos – buses and trams weren’t working properly – but today everything was sorted and running as normal. Public transport that used to pass close to the river has changed its route, and all the stops have updated timetables.

Yesterday I went to take some photos, and today I took a few more, which I’m sharing here. How does the river’s rise affect me, on a Saturday (1 April) at 9:30 p.m.? Well, I don’t know how I’m going to cross it to watch the Barça vs Madrid match…

Here are some photos I took of the event:

Next post: Day 204: At the doctor’s

Previous post: Day 193: The German university system