Floods in Central Europe in 2002

Basic data
Title:	Flood Victims Compensation and Reconstruction Act 2002
Abbreviation:	HWG 2002
Type:	Federal law
Scope:	Republic of Austria
Legal matter:	civil right
Reference:	BGBl. I No. 155/2002
Effective date:	September 26, 2002
Last change:	BGBl. I No. 89/2003 ( Drought damage 2003 / redeployment HWG)
Expiration date:	December 31, 2003
	Please note the note on the applicable legal version !

Deep Ilse
storm	Heavy rain with subsequent floods
General weather situation	Vb weather conditions
Data
Precipitation maximum	12./13. August 2002
Amount of rain	> 300 mm / 24 hours (12-13. August 2002 Zinnwald-Georgenfeld , Saxony )
consequences
affected areas	Germany (east, middle and south) , Austria (northern Alps and Danube region) , Czech Republic
Victim	at least 45 fatalities

Map with all linked sites: OSM | WikiMap

The flood in Central Europe in August 2002 was a flood disaster in Germany , the Czech Republic and Austria . This resulted in severe flooding, especially on the Elbe in eastern and northern Germany , and on the Danube in Bavaria and Austria . The flood was caused by days of extreme rainfall and led to weeks of relief work, at least 45 fatalities and damage totaling around 15 billion euros (in Germany around 9 billion, including 6 in Saxony ). The flood is said to have had an effect on the subsequent federal elections in 2002 .

weather condition

As early as the beginning of August in 2002, heavy and long-lasting rainfalls in the Alps as well as in the Ore Mountains and the Giant Mountains triggered severe floods and devastating mudslides in Germany , Austria , Poland , the Czech Republic and Italy . The precipitation was caused by the Vb-Tief "Ilse". A wedge of the "Friedmann" high above Scandinavia caused the low to be pushed south by its usual west-east trajectory towards the Mediterranean . Here these air masses heated up enormously due to the season and thus absorbed a lot of moisture. After crossing the Alps to the north, they encountered the cold air there, cooled down considerably, and extreme precipitation occurred in a relatively short time. The rainfalls were concentrated along the track of the low, initially on Switzerland, Bavaria, Austria and the Czech Republic and subsequently and intensified on the east of Germany. Here the low pressure area turned in and rained out completely until the end of its life cycle. The rainfalls were additionally intensified by orographically caused uplift processes in the Alps, but especially along the low mountain ranges ( Ore and Giant Mountains). Such a weather situation was also the cause of the Oder flood in 1997 .

Historical classification of the flood event

The flood of 2002 exceeded the events of 1954 , the strongest flood of the 20th century, across the whole of the Elbe region as well as in Austria and partly in Bavaria , and can therefore be regarded as an event of the century. In known history, it is only surpassed by the floods in 1342 , 1501 and 1787 as well as the Alpine floods in 2005 (in the Danube region) and the floods in Central Europe in 2013 .

High water marks Weltenburg BY: Here still well below 2005
High water marks Steyr Upper Austria: Aug. 12, 2002, just below the catastrophe of 1736 and third largest after 1572
High water marks Hainburg an der Donau, Lower Austria: 2002 50 cm above 1954
High water marks in the town church Bad Schandau under the organ gallery, 2002 see. Enlargement on the right
Detail: High water mark 2002 in the town church Bad Schandau, 8 cm below the record of 1845

Course of the event

Germany

Bavaria

A first heavy rain event occurred on 6/7. August with a focus on the Chiemgau and Berchtesgadener Land . More than 100 mm of precipitation fell within 48 hours, which was around 2/3 of the average monthly mean (1961–1990) in August. The largest daily precipitation of 117 mm was registered on August 6th in Ruhpolding ; on Wendelstein , 62 mm of rain fell within just 6 hours. This event led to a saturation of the soil and the basis of the actual, even higher flood event due to precipitation from 10 to 12 August. On the evening of August 10th, a series of thunderstorms moved from the west to Bavaria, which in the further course turned into extensive continuous rain and on August 11th led to daily precipitation of more than 100 mm on the edge of the Alps. On August 12, the focus shifted to the Bavarian and Upper Palatinate Forest , which led to a 100-year precipitation event of 104 mm in 24 hours in Waldkirchen . From August 6th to 12th, more than 340 mm of rain was registered in places in southern Bavaria.

On August 12, flood peaks formed at the Danube tributaries Iller , Günz , Mindel , Zusam , Schmutter , Paar and Lech . In the Oberallgäu district , 100-year events were sometimes observed. On August 14, an elongated wave formed on the Danube between the mouth of the Lech and Regensburg in the area of a 10 to 20-year flood.

Also on August 12th the rivers Isar , Loisach , Ammer , Mangfall , Tiroler Achen , Traun , Saalach and Salzach reached their highest levels. Annualities in the range of 50 to 100 years occurred. The flood wave of the Inn led to a water level of 10.80 m and a discharge of 7700 m³ / s in Passau on August 13th at 1 pm, which corresponded to a 50-year event. This level was last exceeded in 1954 (12.20 m) and then again in 2013 (12.89 m). While the flooding of the Salzach near Burghausen took on a 50-year scale, only one 2 to 5-year event was observed on the Inn in Wasserburg . The 20 to 50-year flood of the Inn from the mouth of the Salzach was largely determined by the Salzach. The Sylvenstein reservoir held back up to 23.3 million cubic meters of water, which prevented a major flood of the Isar. Without the reservoir, up to 730 m³ / s would have flowed off in Bad Tölz on August 12, instead of the 295 m³ / s that had occurred.

With the shift of the rainy area to the north, an extreme flood occurred in the night of August 13 on the rivers in the catchment area of the Regen and the Ilz, with annualities of well over 100 years in some cases. At the confluence of the Regen and the Danube in Regensburg on August 14th at 1 p.m., a level of 6.63 m was registered, which led to a 20-year flood up to the mouth of the Isar near Deggendorf and further on to Passau to a 10-year flood.

Saxony

Schlottwitz , August 13th

Pirna, August 14th

Schiller garden in Dresden

The rain situation was particularly dramatic in the central and eastern Ore Mountains, where on 12./13. August 2002 in Zinnwald with a 24-hour value of 312 mm the highest daily value of the precipitation amount since the beginning of the routine measurements in Germany. Due to the poor condition of the forest in these areas and the amount of water that had already been absorbed, the soil was unable to store such enormous amounts of precipitation, so that the water immediately drained into the valleys. The rivers such as Zschopau , Flöha , Zwickauer Mulde , Freiberger Mulde , Gimmlitz , Rote Weißeritz , Wilde Weißeritz and Müglitz that flow into the Mulde or Elbe in this area swelled to several times their normal size within hours and left enormous damage on their way. Many bridges were torn away, streets washed away, houses flooded and badly damaged, the electricity and telephone supply collapsed, entire villages were evacuated or cut off from the outside world.

The Müglitztal was particularly affected. Here the tidal wave devastated Glashütte , Schlottwitz , Weesenstein , Mühlbach , Burkhardswalde , the Dohna lower town and Heidenau . In Glashütte, on August 12, 2002, around 5:00 p.m., a small retention basin broke on the Prießnitz, a lower tributary of the Müglitz. The tidal wave with an estimated 50,000 cubic meters of water in the Prießnitztal increased the water level in Glashütte by another meter, but had little effect on the flood in the Müglitz because the Prießnitzbach flows further downstream into the Müglitz.

In many places, energy, water and heat supplies failed. The flooding of federal, country and district roads hindered the emergency services. In the area of the Gottleuba and Seidewitz rivers , the flood in Pirna reached the flood threshold on August 12 at around 5:00 p.m. After their confluence in Pirna, the Gottleuba and the Seidewitz rose up to a height of 1.50 meters over the banks.

In Dresden the damage was not only caused by the first wave of the Weißeritz from 12./13. August, but also from the second, higher wave of the Elbe on 16./17. August causes. On August 12, 2002 around 6 p.m., a disaster alarm was triggered for Dresden. In the city center, the main train station , the Semperoper , the Zwinger and the state parliament were flooded. The Friedrichstadt was evacuated.

In the following days, the disaster situation with flood warning level IV was exceeded in some places. Built-up areas were partially completely flooded, the use of water and dams was necessary on a larger scale. There were also deaths. It was not until August 13, 2002 that the dimensions of the natural disaster became fully visible. Other places were enclosed by the subsequent masses of water and cut off from the outside world. The water rose in cribs up to the second floor. Grimma was hit by the flood of the Mulde and badly destroyed, including the historic Pöppelmann Bridge . On August 14th, Chancellor Gerhard Schröder visited the city in rubber boots . The town of Döbeln was also completely flooded by the Freiberger Mulde. In the evening, tram operations in Dresden were completely stopped.

High water level on the Dresden Elbe meadows between the Elbe slope and Blasewitz

On August 15, Meißen was hit by the first wave of floods, and the porcelain factory there was partially destroyed. At this point Pirna had already been reached by the second wave. Now entire villages in Saxon Switzerland had to be evacuated. In Dresden the districts of Laubegast , Kleinzschachwitz and Zschieren are flooded.

On August 16, traffic on the Leipzig – Dresden , Riesa – Chemnitz and Jüterbog – Röderau lines was suspended. When a dam broke near Röderau, the crossing Elbe undermined two road bridges on the railway lines and caused them to collapse. In the evening, the flood peak reached Schöna on the border with the Czech Republic with a high of 12.04 meters. On August 17, 2002, the level in Dresden reached its high of 9.40 meters at 7 a.m. Except for the A4 motorway bridge, all Dresden Elbe bridges were closed on that day. In an absolute comparison of the flow rates, the Elbe floods in 2002 ranked fifth among the registered floods in Saxony. A return interval of 100 to 200 years is therefore assumed for such floods. The Torgau gauge reached a peak of 9.49 meters on August 18.

Satellite image of the Elbe between Torgau and Aken on August 14, 2002 (before) and August 20, 2002 (during the event)

On August 26, the disaster alert for Dresden was lifted. A total of 21 people were killed in Saxony by the floods.

Saxony-Anhalt, Brandenburg

Further downstream, the increased risk of dike breaches became the main problem. The Elbe flooded a land area of 592 km², of which 480 km² were in Saxony-Anhalt . Around 4,600 people had been evacuated from low-lying districts of Dessau by the evening of August 14. In the chemical park Bitterfeld-Wolfen (the Bayer Group hardest hit ), an environmental disaster could be prevented through massive deployment of helpers. The city of Bitterfeld itself was increasingly flooded in the following days. On August 15, a dam in the Mulde broke near the city, flooding the former Goitzsche open- cast lignite mine . On the same day, the Pretziener weir was opened south of Magdeburg , which averted the greatest damage in the city area. Nevertheless, around 20,000 people were evacuated from the eastern districts of Magdeburg and disaster alarms were triggered for the city. In addition, the Brandenburg town of Mühlberg was evacuated and the towns further downstream prepared protective measures.

At 1 a.m. on August 16, the crisis team decided to evacuate around 10,000 people from Bitterfeld and the surrounding area, as the city was gradually being taken over by the masses of water. In Saxony-Anhalt alone had about 2,000 soldiers of the Bundeswehr in use. On August 17, the Mühlberg gauge peaked at 9.96 m.

On August 18, several dams broke in Saxony-Anhalt near Seegrehna and Wittenberg on the Elbe and near Dessau on the Mulde. In the Waldersee district of Dessau , the water quickly rose up to two meters. At Leipzig / Halle Airport a sandbag logistics center has been set up, which supplied all vulnerable zones. On August 19, the situation on Autobahn 9 came to a head, but single-lane traffic management was ensured. The water masses flowed north faster than expected. The first tidal wave reached the state capital Magdeburg, which, however, got off lightly , not least because of the Elbe flood canal .

When the center of Rehsen threatened to flood on August 20th, the residents of the village broke through the dam of the inhabited Schoenitzer Polder with their own hands in order to relieve their own dike. The fire brigade commander Rehsen and four other people were then charged by the public prosecutor's office for demolishing the dike, but in the end they were acquitted due to the lack of evidence of a specific involvement. By August 21, more than 60,000 people in Brandenburg and Saxony-Anhalt had been evacuated from endangered areas. On August 22nd, around 16,300 Bundeswehr soldiers were deployed in Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Brandenburg .
On August 26, the disaster alarm for Magdeburg was lifted. Due to the slow draining of the water, it was only on September 13th, after 32 days, that the disaster alarm could be lifted in Dessau.

Other federal states

Federal Chancellor Gerhard Schröder met with his counterparts from Austria, the Czech Republic and Slovakia as well as EU Commission President Romano Prodi for a flood summit. The endangered cities of Dannenberg , Boizenburg , Lauenburg and other places prepared for the flood. Hundreds of helpers made a massive effort to secure the dike. As of August 16, preparations were made for the evacuation of around 30,000 people from Mecklenburg and Lower Saxony. On August 21, another 13,000 people had to be evacuated from flood areas in Schleswig-Holstein.

Immediate damage

In Dresden, the damage to the Semper Opera alone amounted to 27 million euros. The state art collections , which also include the picture gallery , estimated the damage at 20 million euros.

In Saxony alone, 32 sewage treatment plants on the Elbe (Dresden-Kaditz, Pirna, Meißen and Riesa) failed due to flooding or power outages. This resulted in untreated wastewater in the Elbe.

In Saxony, 21 people died due to the flooding. Between 2002 and 2009, 700 million euros were spent on conservation projects, 50% of which came from EU funds. In evaluating the flood, a total of 300 floodplains on an area of 76,000 hectares were declared. In Saxony-Anhalt, the damage to agriculture amounted to around 420 million euros.

Damage and consequential effects of 1.025 billion euros were caused to the Deutsche Bahn facilities . Of this, 750 million euros went to the Free State of Saxony. In addition to numerous routes, including the Dresden – Werdau and Leipzig – Dresden routes, around 200 train stations were also affected; At Dresden Central Station alone , the damage totaled 42 million euros. The federal government contributed a total of 650 million euros to the costs of restoring the railway systems.

Czech Republic

overview

Flooded Gothic bridge in Písek

In the Czech Republic, the precipitation began on August 5, 2002. Southern Bohemia was initially affected with the catchment areas of Moldau , Lainsitz , Maltsch and Blanice , and later by Beraun , Wottawa and Sasau . Since August 11, 2002, the water masses of Eger and Biela in north-west Bohemia were added. Within nine days of August, precipitation in the affected regions was equivalent to three summer months of the long-term average. Above-average amounts of rain had already fallen in June and July and the storage capacity of the soil was exhausted.

Initially, numerous places in the flat area around Ceske Budejovice were flooded, the resulting danger was underestimated. The dams of the Vltava, filled to the brim, should have drained around 1000 m³ / s of water as a preventive measure, so the later peak would have been defused. At the beginning of the second week, the water level in Prague rose to seven meters. Now the overflows had to be opened. In addition to the South Bohemian water masses from the Vltava with 3000 m³ / s, there were also 2000 m³ / s from the unregulated rivers Sasau and Beraun near Prague.

In Prague the normal flow rate is 150 m³ / s, at this point an estimated 5300 m³ / s was reached. The flooding of the old town was prevented by barriers on the quayside. However, the subway stopped operating. The Karlín district had to be evacuated.

At the confluence of the Vltava and Elbe rivers near Mělník , the water masses could spread out into the plain. The village of Zálezlice , located near the estuary, was two-thirds destroyed. The water dammed up at the bottleneck in Bohemian Switzerland below . The transfer to Germany takes place through the narrow Elbe valley of the Elbe Sandstone Mountains. The peak in Ústí nad Labem (Aussig) was reached on August 16, 2002 in the afternoon. The water flow of the Elbe exceeded the hitherto highest from the year 1845. The amount of water in the Vltava exceeded the amount of 1845 by almost a fifth.

Immediate damage

In the Czech Republic, 17 people died due to the flood. The damage in the Czech Republic is estimated at 3.3 billion euros. 446 towns were flooded, 99 of them were completely under water. 1.33 million people were directly affected and 200,000 were evacuated. With the exception of Orlík and Slapy , the machine houses of all Moldovan hydropower plants were flooded.

In Prague Zoo 1000 animals were evacuated, but 134 more (including 10 mammals) died in the floods. The Prague metro was two-fifths full and was not fully operational again until March 2003. The subway was damaged by around 280 million euros. Not far from the confluence of the Vltava and Elbe rivers, the Czech chemical and pharmaceutical plant Spolana in Neratovice was flooded and waste and operating materials were washed away. One of the 17 fatalities in the flood was a 53-year-old man who was fatally struck by an iron splinter while watching a free-floating barge being blown up in Děčín .

Austria

Danube during the flood

Main square of Melk on August 13th

Melk, August 13th

First flood wave: August 6th to 9th

overview

In Austria, the highest two-day total precipitation was measured in the Lower Austrian Waldviertel in Weikertschlag, Waidhofen an der Thaya district , at 246 mm. Similar amounts of precipitation were measured in the Gmünd district (Lower Austria) , the Freistadt district ( Mühlviertel , Upper Austria ) and the northwestern Mostviertel (Lower Austria). The region around Salzburg was also badly affected .

The resulting runoff reached their level peak on 7 and 8 August.

In contrast to earlier floods, this time also areas were affected for which no comparable figures have been available, at least for the past 100 years, namely the Upper Austrian Machland , the southern Mühlviertel and the Lower Austrian Kamp and Kremstal.

Mühlviertel

In the Mühlviertel, the catchment area of the Aist with its numerous headwaters was most severely affected to a catastrophic extent. The community of Schwertberg in the district of Perg was flooded on the night of August 7th to 8th and was sometimes over 1.20 m under water. Maximum flow rates were also observed in Freistadt and Kefermarkt (both on the Feldaist ), in Königswiesen on the Große Naarn , in Unterweißbach on the Kleine Naarn and in St. Georgen on the Gusen .

Waldviertel

In the night of August 6th to 7th, the water level of the upper Kamp began to rise. On the afternoon of August 7th, the water threatened to run over the Ottenstein dam , which is why the flood relief sluices had to be opened. At midnight on August 8, the water level in Zwettl was 4 m above mean water. While the clearing work had already started on August 9th in the upper reaches of the Kamp, dramatic scenes took place on the lower reaches. In addition to the destruction of roads and buildings in the Kamptal, the Kamp dams below Hadersdorf am Kamp overflowed and subsequently broke the dams, flooding the northern Tullnerfeld , and with it numerous localities. Due to the Danube flood protection dams, the flood was prevented from flowing into the Danube . It was only after the polders and dams were opened that the situation could relax. The Lainsitz also showed high water levels in the Waldviertel, but it lies on the other side of the watershed and belongs to the catchment area of the Elbe .

Salzach area

In the Salzach area , several smaller streams emerged from the banks, which caused some property damage, but not the Salzach and Saalach , which merely exceeded the flood limits.

Second flood wave: August 11th to 15th

overview

All Austrian areas along the entire north side of the Alps from Vorarlberg to Hainburg an der Donau were affected by the second wave . The centers of the rainfall were in the Ennstal , in the Salzkammergut and again in the Mühlviertel and Waldviertel. The highest two-day total precipitation was measured this time in Laussa, Steyr -Land district (Upper Austria) with 227 mm.

Danube

Due to the heavy rainfall in southeast Bavaria , the flood situation on the Danube was already extremely tense. The areas on the Lech and the Tiroler Ache were affected by flooding . From Golling on, there was also land under water along the Salzach . The additional high water flow from the Traun and Enns led to extensive Danube flooding from the Upper Austrian Machland , over the Wachau , the Tullnerfeld and in the area east of Vienna .

Mühlviertel

At Aist and Naarn, where the ground was unable to absorb any more water due to the first tidal wave, there was again heavy flooding. This time, Schwertberg was even deeper under water than during the first wave.

Waldviertel

In the lower reaches of the Kamp, where the water level had hardly receded since the first wave, there was again massive flooding. Due to the high level of the Danube, the fighting water could not flow into the Danube this time and more towns were under water than the week before.

Immediate damage

There were seven fatalities in Austria. The total economic damage in 2003 was initially estimated at € 3.1 billion.

Consequences and Effects

Total damage

Destruction in Schlottwitz (Saxony) on August 15, 2002

The total financial damage caused by the flood event is listed below.

Europe

Total damage in Europe, rounded to billions of euros
	Germany	Czech Republic	Austria	Europe
Total damage	9.1	3.0	3.0	15.1
- insured of it	1.8	0.9	0.4	3.1

Germany

Total damage in Germany, rounded to millions of euros
state	SN	ST	BY	NI	BB	TH	MV	SH	Federation	Germany
Total damage	6,084	1,029	197	174	145	49	33	4th	1,353	9,069

The German back there for Saxony 2.5 billion euros on higher damage. This would lead to losses of € 8.6 billion in Saxony, € 11.6 billion in Germany and € 17.5 billion in Europe. The damage to government infrastructure amounted to € 1.353 billion, of which € 1.025 billion was incurred by Deutsche Bahn . Of this, in turn, 750 million euros went to the area of Saxony.

Political Impact

Germany

The flood event had a drastic impact on the election campaign for the upcoming federal elections on September 22, 2002 . The SPD- led federal government reacted immediately to the flood disaster and initiated the largest deployment of the Bundeswehr in Germany to date . As early as August 20, 2002, around 45,000 Bundeswehr soldiers were deployed in the affected regions to strengthen dikes, carry out evacuations and coordinate disaster relief. Numerous politicians, including Federal Chancellor Gerhard Schröder , regularly visited the affected areas with great media coverage. The federal government made available 385 million euros at short notice to support the people affected by the flood in reconstruction. The payments amounted to 500 euros per person and up to 2000 euros per household. Affected companies received a lump sum of 15,000 euros and 500 euros per employee. On August 26th, the federal government passed the bill for a 7.1 billion euro fund for reconstruction aid in flood areas, which the Federal Council approved on September 13th.

A political science study comes to the conclusion that the flood relief measures of the SPD-led German government are said to have increased the SPD's share of the vote in the affected areas by a maximum of seven percentage points in the 2002 federal elections and by two percentage points in the 2005 federal elections.

Critics complain that politics and administration have only drawn a small degree of actual consequences from the flood. Less than five percent of the 35,000 hectares of land identified as possible floodplains along the Elbe in 2002 were realized. In addition, building bans stipulated in various state laws were often circumvented by district administrators with special permits.

Austria

In Austria, the Flood Victims Compensation and Reconstruction Act 2002 (HWG 2002) was passed in September , with which, in addition to a fund, additional funds in the order of 250 million euros were made available.

Due to the flood disaster, the Schüssel I government, with the consent of the FPÖ ministers, decided to postpone the tax reform that the FPÖ had promised the voters. This and other differences of opinion prompted Haider and other people from the right wing of the party, such as Ewald Stadler , to demand that the party leadership, under Susanne Riess-Passer , who is considered to be more liberal, call a special party conference ( Knittelfelder FPÖ Assembly 2002 ) and to collect the signatures of the elected delegates .

The events of this meeting led to a change of power within the party, to the resignation of several FPÖ ministers, thus to the break of the first FPÖ- ÖVP coalition under Federal Chancellor Wolfgang Schüssel and finally early new elections ( Nationalrat election in Austria 2002 ), in which the FPÖ almost 2 / Has lost 3 of their voters. Also in most of the state elections (except in Carinthia ) between 2003 and 2005, the Freedom Party fell sharply in favor of the voters. Also in the municipal council and mayoral elections in Carinthia in 2003 , in the municipal council elections in Lower Austria in 2005 and later also in Styria , the FPÖ lost voters.

After the election defeat in the local council elections in Lower Austria in 2005, the former chairman of the FPÖ, Jörg Haider , proposed a re-establishment of the FPÖ as a “casual, brisk and young” party, whose leadership he would be willing to take over again “in an emergency”. When this proposal did not meet with undivided approval within the party, and a vote against the Viennese FPÖ chairman Heinz-Christian Strache became apparent at a party congress scheduled for April 23 , 2005 he founded the new party Alliance Future Austria (BZÖ) and declared that he wanted to become its first chairman. The BZÖ then replaced the FPÖ in the Schüssel II government .

Deployment of auxiliary workers

The auxiliaries deployed included the Bundeswehr , the police , the Federal Border Police , the fire brigade , the DLRG , the THW , the DRK and numerous other aid organizations. Bundeswehr soldiers worked a total of 270,000 man-days, and a further 190,000 man-days on standby. A total of 46,600 soldiers were involved in the operation.

The Elbe flood in 2002 was the largest operation in the history of the THW, in which 24,000 emergency personnel were on duty with 1,750,000 hours and technical equipment.

The crisis team was sometimes overwhelmed with coordinating the auxiliary staff. Thus, isolated fire brigade units had to wait in vain for the assignment of an operational area.

Special postage stamp

Flood aid: German surcharge from 2002

As the publisher of the postage stamps in Germany, the Federal Ministry of Finance published an unscheduled 56-cent special postage stamp on August 30, 2002 with a surcharge of 44 cents for the benefit of the flood victims with a circulation of 6,740,000. Because of the short-term publication date, which did not allow an invitation to tender for the design of a brand motif, the BMF used the motif of the 1998 special stamp “Protection of the Coasts and Seas” and only adjusted the inscription and value.

Awards

There were a number of awards for helpers working against the floods:

reception

Movie

The flood in Saxony plays a central role in the 2011 German MDR feature film Stilles Tal .

literature

Federal Ministry of Defense: Flood disaster in August 2002 (PDF; 9.2 MB).
Michael M. Bechtel and Jens Hainmueller . 2011. How Lasting Is Voter Gratitude? An Analysis of the Short- and Long-Term Electoral Returns to Beneficial Policy (PDF; 434 kB) In: American Journal of Political Science 55 (4): 852-868.
Karina Helfricht, Jürgen Helfricht : The millennium flood. 2002 in Saxony . 6th updated edition. Husum Druck- und Verlagsgesellschaft, Husum 2003, ISBN 3-89876-070-7 .
Dieter Lehmann u. a .: When will the next flood come? Projekt-Verlag, Halle 2005, ISBN 3-86634-012-5 .
Reinhard Mechler and Jürgen Weichselgartner. 2003. Disaster Loss Financing in Germany. - The Case of the Elbe River Floods 2002. International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis. Luxembourg, Austria.
Helmut Habersack, Andrea Moser (Ed.): Event documentation flood August 2002. Platform flood 02/2003, ZENAR - Center for Natural Hazards and Risk Management, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna, i. Zsarb. m. Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, Environment and Water Management
Flood 2002, Grafenwörth - Kirchberg - Königsbrunn: A text and picture chronicle. TB SozAKTIV, ISBN 978-3-901847-07-3

Movie

Ralf Kukula and Ray van Zeschau : … you save yourself the trip to Venice - little Friedrichstadt flood stories. BalanceFilm, 2002

Web links

Commons : Floods in Central Europe 2002 - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Heavy precipitation in Saxony in August 2002 (Vb-Wetterlage) - German Weather Service , October 2002 (PDF; 6.0 MB)
Documentation of the flood of August 2002 in the catchment area of the Elbe - International Commission for the Protection of the Elbe, 2004 (PDF; 40 MB)
Results analysis: flood in August 2002 in the rivers of the Eastern Ore Mountains - Saxon State Office for Environment and Geology, July 2004 (PDF; 4.1 MB)
Chronicle: The flood of the century in Saxony and mdr.de: The flood of the century in Saxony-Anhalt ( Memento from February 23, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) - Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk

Individual evidence

↑ addition of the substantiated information under #Deutschland , #Tschechen and # Austria

↑ ^a ^b Flood in August 2002 ( Memento from September 24, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF; 1.3 MB), Bavarian State Office for Water Management, October 28, 2002

↑ Heavy precipitation in Saxony in August 2002 ( memento from March 29, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF; 6.0 MB) at DWD

↑ State Office 2002 in Martin Ernst & Manfred Stephan: Recent high-tide sediments of the Müglitz south of Dresden (Ore Mountains, Saxony) in comparison with sandstone banks from geological history. Annual reports and communications from the Upper Rhine Geological Association, Neue Reihe, 89: 11–35, Stuttgart 2007.

↑ August 13th, Tuesday: The disaster is here , mdr.de

↑ August 14, Wednesday: Waiting for the second wave , mdr.de

↑ August 15, Thursday: Land under in Saxony , mdr.de

↑ ^a ^b http://www.umwelt.sachsen.de/umwelt/wasser/download/Elbpegel.pdf

↑ August 16, Friday: The Elbe continues to rise - mdr.de

↑ August 17th, Saturday: The top of the wave www.mdr.de

^ The aftermath: 23 August to early November , mdr.de

↑ Central Europe Flooding, August 2002 (English, PDF; 2.3 MB)

↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Chronology: This is how the flood of the century raged in Saxony and other regions in 2002 , lvz-online.de

↑ mdr.de: The flood of the century in Saxony-Anhalt in 2002 ( Memento from February 23, 2015 in the Internet Archive )

↑ mdr.de: August 16 and 17: The flood disaster in Bitterfeld ( Memento from April 4, 2015 in the Internet Archive )

↑ mdr.de: August 18, Sunday: Flood in Waldersee and Seegrehna ( Memento from April 4, 2015 in the Internet Archive )