Küsnachter flood 1778
The flooding of the village stream of Küsnacht in the Swiss canton of Zurich on July 8, 1778 destroyed numerous buildings and killed 63 people.
Before the flood
The day of the accident had been preceded by three days of humid and oppressive heat. A foggy carpet unfamiliar for the time of year was dissolved in the morning by a cool north wind. In the afternoon there was lightning and thunder, a rain shower soon subsided.
In the late afternoon dark clouds were brewing from several sides. Violent shear winds drove the masses of clouds to the Küsnachterberg, the western flank of the Pfannenstiel ridge above the town of Forch . There the clouds discharged like a torrent in a violent thunderstorm. It rained heaviest between 7 and 8 p.m., while at the same time "the sky was full of fire," as an eyewitness reported. After 9 p.m. the storm subsided, at 10 p.m. it was quiet. The clouds cleared, the moon shone.
The tidal wave
The huge masses of water that had fallen in the wide, flat hollow between Zumikon and Limberg, gathered like a funnel at the lowest point, at the Tobelmühle in the creek bed of the Tobelbach above Küsnacht north of the hamlet of Limberg. Immediately the Küsnacht village brook burst its banks and destroyed the house and business premises of the farmer, miller and sawmill owner Schulthess.
Nourished by tributaries from several side streams, the water masses uprooted numerous trees on their way through the narrow Küsnachter Tobel, triggered landslides and tore stone blocks with them. Less than an hour after the storm began, the floods reached the exit of the ravine above the village at around 10 p.m. The tidal wave hit the village with its sleeping population unprepared and with tremendous force. At the upper end of the village, the wave hit the newly completed stone bridge at the upper mill, where it was briefly stopped by the scaffolding that had not yet been removed, and then rushed with all the greater force on the village.
The first house that fell victim to the water was the three-family house of the Kuser, Hardmeyer and Fenner families; 17 residents were killed, including seven children. Further down the stream, 28 people died in the rubble of their houses, and the former school building on the site of today's Jörgenhaus also fell victim to the masses of water. 48 people died between Obermühle and the Reformed Church alone. Eyewitnesses assured that the water had risen to a height of twenty shoes (around six meters) in the upper village center; a height sufficient to flood the upper floors of the houses.
After the devastation in the upper part of the village, the brook reached the houses further away from the sea with unbroken force, tore away bridges, destroyed the cemetery and washed bones and coffins out into the lake. Parts of the burials from the 9th to 11th centuries discovered in 2018 were also affected. The village butcher's shop on the left bank and the granary of the office building of the former Johanniter commandery at today's canton school were destroyed . The brook then left its bed and, instead of following the branch off to the south, shot straight ahead towards Lake Zurich , where it destroyed Hans Rudolf Weinmann's Lower Forge and Josua Trüeb's Lower Mill. Nobody survived, 15 people died.
After the accident
The following morning the distraught survivors were faced with a harrowing picture. From the exit of the ravine to the lake, the brook had struck a broad band of destruction. Uprooted trees, boulders, beams, overturned wagons, barrels, gravel and mud lay piled on both sides of the creek bed. Seven victims were found, 56 remained under the rubble of their homes or were washed out into the lake. On July 12th, Pastor Johann Heinrich Meister held a funeral service in the Reformed Church of Küsnacht.
Destroyed houses
Flooded areas
Before the storm, to the west
same view after the storm
View to the east
On the night of the accident, the bailiff Escher from Küsnacht wrote a report to the government and asked for immediate help. The next morning, a government delegation led by Lieutenant Colonel Salomon Landolt arrived and began organizing the clean-up work. On the same day, aid teams from the surrounding villages and other regions of the canton rushed over. In the first seven weeks, between 100 and 350 men did forced labor in Küsnacht. In order to remove the heavy stone blocks, the German designer August Rentloy from Augsburg , who happened to be staying in the Haus zum Schwert , specially designed a powerful lifting machine.
Numerous objects of daily use were carried far out into the lake by the stream and carried by the waves up to Stäfa , Wädenswil and Horgen . The things were collected, cleaned, neatly registered and brought back to the Küsnachters by sea with flippers and boats.
reconstruction
In order to dig a new and safe creek bed for the creek, the renowned master builder Hans Ulrich Grubenmann was called in, who suggested the Küsnachtern dig a 15 meter wide creek bed built on both sides. In addition, the natural course of the stream, which meanders through the village, was forced into a channel that led from the ravine exit in a straight line to the lake. The Zurich engineer captain Römer was in charge of the work. Further structural measures were initiated in 1878 when the Küsnacht village brook was flooded again .
The Zurich communities and the population showed great willingness to help. On November 29, 1778, the government council ordered a separate church tax that brought in the amount of 30,000 guilders.
documentation
They are well informed about the disaster. The most original and detailed report comes from Pastor Johann Rudolf Schinz (1745–1790), then pastor in Uitikon . Most of the later descriptions of the events are also based on his description. Another report can be found in the 14th chapter of the book "Salomon Landolt" by David Hess .
The height of the flood, which today seems almost unbelievable, is marked on one of the houses east of the parish hall, which was spared from the storm.
Küsnachter Dorfbach after leaving the ravine
Display of ..
... highest water level
legend
The constant floods and devastation found their expression in the legend "The dragon from Küsnachter Tobel". The story tells of a dragon who keeps breaking out of its cave in the ravine and devours everything it encounters. A knight puts an end to the ghost with the help of a consecrated candle, his sword and Our Lady, who tied the dragon to the rock with a diamond chain. In the upper part of the ravine is the "Dragon Hole" named after the legend; a cave in the side wall of the ravine. The Catholic Church in Küsnacht is also dedicated to St. George , the dragon slayer.
literature
- Küsnachter Jahresblätter 1966, report by Karl Beck ( online )
- Küsnachter Jahresblätter 1967, report by Hans Gattiker and Pastor Schinz ( online )
- Küsnachter Jahresblätter 1978 , report by Alfred Egli ( online )
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Lena Schenkel: Medieval burial ground discovered under the Küsnacht Cantonal School . In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung . April 25, 2018 ( nzz.ch [accessed June 29, 2018]).
- ^ Daniel Fritzsche: The dead under the singing hall: A Zurich school surprises archaeologists with a creepy find . In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung . June 26, 2018 ( nzz.ch [accessed June 29, 2018]).