The flood has hit Passau harder than expected. Mud remains and houses on the Danube side are still under water. In the midst of this depressing backdrop, residents are searching for normality.
The worst is over – hopefully. According to forecasts, both the Danube and the Inn passed their peaks on Tuesday afternoon. In the evening, this was evident on the Inn bank in the old town, where the river had clearly exceeded the bank, but was now clearing the first parts of the promenade and leaving the mud behind. On the Danube side, however, houses are still under water.
Tina came to the old town for an evening stroll to get an impression of the flooding for herself. “I don’t think anyone really expected it to be so bad,” she says, considering the high water levels. At its peak, the Danube had exceeded the ten-meter mark and the Inn was over seven meters high. The extent of the damage was therefore not as devastating as in 2013 – many people here still have the disaster in their minds.
But no one could know how far the water would push into the pedestrian zone, especially since local heavy rain events caused the water level to rise more than expected. In Schorndorf, it was only at the weekend that it became clear how devastating such unpredictable currents can be.
“The mood was strange,” says Tina about the weekend in the three-river city; somehow depressed, worried. Everyone was waiting for the peak to come and asked themselves: “When will things get better?” The fact that the city declared a state of emergency on Monday still surprised her. Overall, the administration communicated well.
Despite this depressing situation, the restaurants and bars in Passau’s old town fill up in the evening – contrary to the administration’s recommendation to avoid the entire flood area. It seems too tempting to take a look for yourself.
Radu and Sveva sit on a wall on the banks of the Danube and look out over the promenade, where a few street signs still protrude from the water. For the two students from Romania, this is the first flood they have experienced. They saw plenty of it over the weekend.
Radu is only visiting and lives in Aachen. The two of them attended a sporting event in Regensburg. “It was close to the water and the road to it was blocked.” Seeing something like that with their own eyes was shocking. “It was interesting to see how powerful nature is,” Sveva describes her impressions upstream. On the train ride back to Passau, they crossed swollen rivers several times, saw flooded villages and areas of land – and now the scenes in Sveva’s place of study.
Radu says he had previously laughed at the markings on the town hall of the three-river city: “I thought that wouldn’t happen anyway.” He has now changed his mind, as he has seen for himself how much damage the water can cause. All side streets towards the river bank are closed, and the Danube appears just a few meters downhill.
Since the water levels are only gradually decreasing, several schools and kindergartens in Passau will remain closed on Wednesday. The city expects that clean-up work will not begin until Friday.